


As The Sun Sets

by GanglyLimbs



Series: Suits, Dresses, And Guns [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew, GTA AU, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:19:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8547742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GanglyLimbs/pseuds/GanglyLimbs
Summary: When Geoff sends Gavin and Meg on a mission on the other side of the country, they expect it to go like every other information extraction mission. But this time, there will be consequences.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, I'm really nervous about posting this story because I've been writing it for so long. I have this mostly written, except for the last couple of chapters, so hopefully regular updates? Please let me know what you think!

“Are you going to answer that?”

Gavin looked down at his phone, which sat in his lap beeping and squealing, indicating he had a call coming in. _Michael_ flashed across the screen in angry red.  He looked over at his companion. “Nah.”

“Nah?” His partner (one of three), Meg, asked. She raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow and brushed her dark blue hair out of her face.

Gavin shrugged, going back to looking out the car window. It was raining, the weather perfectly in tune with his mood, but at least the lightning was interesting to watch. They’ve been on lookout for three hours and Gavin, who wasn’t a patient person to begin with, was about at his limit. So of course, it was the perfect time for Meg to start bothering him.

“Come on, Gav. It’s been two days.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be watching for this Larry guy?” Gavin grouched, hoping his tone would let Meg know that he was not about to have this conversation.

“He doesn’t get off for another ten minutes.” Meg dismissed and Gavin sighed. He was in for it now. “Gavin. You have to talk to someone-”

“No I don’t.” Gavin immediately cut in.

“Your fighting with Michael is making the rest of the crew uncomfortable.” Meg went on, completely ignoring him. “It’s making your _partners_ uncomfortable. At least talk to Lindsay or me. Please?”

Gavin weighed his options. Meg wasn’t going to let this go. He could tell by the way she had twisted in her seat to look at him, arms folded over her chest, and lips pursed. And it wasn’t like Gavin wasn’t begging to bitch about Michael to _someone_. Meg was sort of perfect for this actually, as she was also dating the asshole. Giving the building Larry was hiding out in one more scan, he turned to match Meg’s posture. “You know that assignment we have coming up? The one that Geoff is sending us both on?”

“Yeah?”

“Michael doesn’t want me to go.”

“No.” Meg’s tone was disbelieving.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Apparently it’s too _dangerous._ ” Gavin mocked, sneering at the words.

Meg shook her head. “There has to be something else. Michael wouldn’t tell you not to do something because it was dangerous.” The way she said it let Gavin know how ridicules she thought the idea was.

“If there is, he didn’t tell me.” Of course that might have been because Gavin didn’t give him a chance. As soon as the words had left Michael’s mouth, it had developed into a screaming match from there. Then Gavin had stormed out. He’s been avoiding the curly haired man ever since.  

“What the fuck?” Meg still sounded bewildered.

“That’s what I said!” Gavin exclaimed. “Who’s he to tell me what I can and can’t do?”

“I mean,” Meg couldn’t help saying, giving Gavin a sheepish smile when he glared at her. “He probably just wants you to be safe.”

“But he doesn’t tell Lindsay or you to _be safe_. He doesn’t tell Lindsay or you not to go on a mission. Just me.”

“Well,” She drawled out, putting one manicured hand on top of Gavin’s. “You are kind of accident prone sweetheart.”

Gavin frowned. “And you aren’t? Besides, does that mean he can now decide what missions I can and can’t go on?”

“Absolutely not.”

Gavin sighed, dropping his defensive tone. “It’s just…what bothers me the most. Is the fact that he doesn’t think I can do it.”

“Oh Gavin.” Meg began but cut herself off. Her eyes flicked to the side and Gavin turned. There was their guy, Larry Something or Other. He matched the picture they were given. A thin little man, short and shifty looking with unruly brown hair to match his beady eyes. Easy pickings. Geoff had warned them that they weren’t to seriously harm Larry. The rat had one more job to do.

Larry was a newbie to the criminal lifestyle and thus hadn’t yet learned that it wasn’t wise to piss off the big names. Burnie had hired him to keep track of some of his low level supplies and money coming from those supplies. The kind the head of one of the largest gang organizations in America didn’t want to waste much time on. Months later and Burnie had caught stupid Larry skimming some of his cash. Usually, Burnie would have him taken somewhere and made an example of. The problem was, Burnie had no idea where the little mingpot had stashed the money. And before he could figure it out, Larry had run.

Now, Geoff had sent Meg and Gavin to retrieve him.

Gavin didn’t normally do scrub work like this (Meg would but only for a large amount of money and it usually wasn’t worth it to pay her fee) but Burnie had personally asked Geoff for a favor, needing people he could trust to bring Larry in quickly. Geoff had agreed, but unfortunately, a lot of the AH crew was busy. Geoff had eventually picked Gavin and Meg, explaining it would be a good idea to get them out and working before their big assignment, shake any nerves they might have.

Gavin looked back at Meg and she nodded. “We’ll talk about this later. Let’s go get our guy.”

Larry, after a quick look around, had turned left, probably walking towards his car. His back was turned towards them. Perfect.

Meg exited the car first, followed closely by Gavin. He reached his hand out, which she took, and drew her close. They made their way across the street like that, smiling and talking and laughing. The picture of a perfect couple. Larry would look behind him occasionally but his eyes drifted over them. Never suspecting that one of Meg’s hand, which he couldn’t see, held a gun and the hand Gavin had in his coat pocket was wrapped around his own firearm.

“He’s getting close to his car.” Gavin commented, turning to smile down at Meg. Luckily, they didn’t have to whisper to each other. The rain and cracks of thunder kept their voices from carrying too far.

Meg smiled back up at him and gave his arm a squeeze. “We’ll get him in the car, right before he takes off. Less suspicious that way.”

“And we can have him drive one of us to his own demise.” Gavin added.

Meg gave him another squeeze. “I love the way you think, Mr. Free.”

 _Boom_. Thunder rumbled.

Larry’s head exploded in front of them.

Meg pushed Gavin against the nearest shop the moment Larry’s body hit the ground. Her gun was drawn. Gavin let out a small _oomph_ as his back hit the glass but drew his own gun, making sure that it was hidden against his chest. From across the road, a woman screamed. People were simultaneously running away and drawing closer. No one went near the body. It was clear Larry was dead.

“Where did the shot come from?” Gavin asked, leaning down to whisper in Meg’s ear. His eyes were constantly scanning the road, looking for anyone that looked questionable. Someone exiting a building, wildly looking around. Anyone holding a large suitcase, large enough to carry a sniper rifle. A smug look, no matter how quick, as they gazed at Larry’s body.

“Above us.” Meg whispered back. She buried her head into Gavin’s shoulder, playing the part of scared woman driven helplessly to tears. Gavin cupped her head and looked up. “Not right above, idiot. But in one of these buildings.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Gavin murmured. “They wouldn’t have a good angle like that.”

“I don’t think it came from across the street. Maybe a few buildings down? I won’t really be able to know without looking at the body.”

“Too risky right now. In any case, we should get moving. I can hear the sirens already.”

They hustled back to their car. As soon as Gavin closed his door, Meg was peeling out. “How mad do you think Burnie is going to be?”

~

“Who would kill the little weasel?”

Gavin shrugged but didn’t say anything. Once they had gotten back to their car, Gavin had immediately contacted Geoff, who in turn had contacted Burnie. Now, a day of driving back to Los Santos and a quick change later, they were all in various stages of standing and sitting around Geoff’s small office. Burnie was pacing along the back wall, every so often leaning against Geoff’s big office chair to look at them or turning around to stare out the wide windows overlooking the city. Geoff had poured everyone a drink but Burnie had left his untouched on the desk. Gavin sipped at his, leaning back in his own chair. Meg sat in the only other one, feet kicked up, her cup empty. As was Geoff’s but that wasn’t unusual for him. Geoff himself was leaning against his door, eyes tracking Burnie’s movements.

“Did you set a bounty on him?” The tattooed man asked. He held out his cup and Meg, who the bottle was located the closest too, reached over to fill it up.

Burnie snorted. “Fuck no. He’s barely worth the gas these two had to use to get him. Who would _pay_ to kill him?”

“Unless he screwed someone else over.” Meg supplied. She refilled her cup. Gavin declined when she tipped the bottle towards him.

Burnie sighed and ran a hand over his face before he slumped down onto Geoff’s chair. He grabbed the drink set out for him and downed it in one gulp. “That’s entirely possible. Which means I’m going to have to go through months of paper trails to find my money. _Fuck_.” He paused and lazily looked over at Gavin. “Anyway I could convince you to do it for me?”

Gavin slowly smiled. “You can’t afford me, Burns.”

Burnie grinned back. “Maybe not. But I can buy that new motorcycle I know you’ve been eyeing.”

Gavin sat up. “The Akuma?”

“I’ll even deck it out in gold for you.” Burnie tempted, giving the Brit a small, smug smile. Everyone there knew all Burnie had to do was push it a little more and Gavin would gladly do it for free. But Gavin had been Burnie’s long before he was Geoff’s and there was nothing more Burnie loved to do than to spoil the Brit rotten.

“As much I would love to watch you suck Gavin’s dick some more,” Geoff drawled, but his voice was warm. Amused. He was just as bad as spoiling Gavin as Burnie was. “Unfortunately, Gavin’s going to be out of commission for the next few weeks.”

Burnie frowned. “What for?”

“Gavin and I are going across the country to go kiss the ass of some rising CEO.” Meg answered.

Burnie raised an eyebrow, turning to look at Geoff.

“You remember the Backers?” Geoff asked.

Burnie blinked, head tilting to the side. “That fucking annoying gang from Del Lanto? The last I heard was that they were dead.”

Geoff nodded. “So did I. About a month ago though, I got word from Trevor that a group had pulled a heist in Rochester. Stole millions.” Geoff paused.  “And the ringleader was Tyler Coe.”

That caused Burnie to sit up, staring intently at Geoff now. “Coe? But the-“

“Fire?” Geoff finished. “Apparently, it didn’t kill him.” There was a long silence between the two, with lots of meaningful looks being passed around that Gavin couldn’t even begin to decipher. Finally, Geoff relaxed, a small smile on his face. “So now it looks like the Backers are, well, back.” Meg snorted and Geoff reached forward to give her a light tap on the head. “And I believe they got themselves a new leader. Or at least someone to fund them.”

“This CEO?” Burnie guessed.

Gavin nodded. “Jon Risinger is a model turned fashion designer and now in charge of one of the fastest growing companies on the East Side.”

“And you think he’s funding the Backers?”

“That’s what Gavin and I are going to find out.” Meg said. She took a long drink from her glass. “Seems pretty suspicious that a fashion designer would be spending time in no man’s land Colorado.”

“You think he’s spreading his territory?” Burnie asked, looking at Geoff.

Geoff shrugged. “Could be. Or he could just be feeling out more people to bring in. Either way, I want to make sure he stays to his side. I’ve got enough trouble dealing with the gangs _here_ , I don’t need to worry about ones across the country.”

Again, there was that silence. Burnie spent a long time looking at Geoff. Geoff took a sip of his drink, not backing down. Burnie sighed. “Geoff. Tell me you’re not thinking about starting a gang war.”

Geoff snorted. “I’m not stupid, Burnie. I’m just sending Meg and Gav in to confirm our suspicions. _If_ it turns out that Risinger is the new leader, I’ll have them extend my congratulations.”

 Burnie looked to the two of them. Gavin gave his best charming grin. Meg smirked. Burnie chuckled and rolled his eyes, but let it go. He stood up and stretched. “Fuck, I guess I have to resign myself to hours of boring work then.”

“I could still do it.” Gavin suggested. His grin widened when Burnie gave him a confused glance. “Come on, Burnie. I could do paper trails in my sleep. I’m going to need something to do anyways, in-between chatting it up with the rich folk.”

“Your first priority is Risinger.” Geoff warned.

Gavin flapped his hand at him. “Yeah, yeah. My entire focus will be Risinger. But I’ve done this meet-and great a hundred times, Geoffrey, and I know that it gets boring. I don’t want my entire time in New York to be out with my mask on. A task like this is simple enough that it won’t take too much time and it’ll be relaxing.” Gavin turned around to pout at him.

Geoff narrowed his eyes but didn’t bother to argue about it anymore. Knowing Gavin, he’ll do it anyways. “Fine asshole. As long as your job gets done.”

Gavin grinned and turned back to Burnie. “I expect my bike to be in front of my apartment by the time I get back.”

Burnie ruffled his hair. “Why do I love you again?”

“Because I’m your favorite.” Gavin batted Burnie’s hand away, immediately trying to smooth his ruffled hair back into place.

“Shh, don’t tell anyone.” Burnie gave him one last grin before making his way towards Geoff. He stuck his hand out and Geoff shook it. “Thanks for letting me use these two.”

“What are friends for?” Geoff’s smirk was lazy. “Don’t be a stranger, Burns.”

“I’ll try not to.” Burnie turned his hand toward Meg. When she shook it, he drew her into a hug. “Good to see you in one piece.”

Meg leaned back to give Burnie a peck on the cheek. “Am I ever not the picture of perfection?”

Burnie gave her a look. “The last call I got from you, you were in a middle of a shootout. And then, as you were hanging up, I heard a building exploding.”

“Did I not call you back?” Meg’s painted lips turned downwards, eyes innocent.

Burnie was not falling for it. “No. No you did not.”

Meg relented, give Burnie another kiss, this time on the other cheek. “Sorry Burns.”

“Try to do better in the future. I don’t need to know the details. Just that your alive.” Burnie let her go.

“Will do, Boss.” Meg saluted. Both Burnie and Geoff shook their heads while Gavin snickered.

“Be safe you two.” Were Burnie’s last words as he left. The door shut quietly behind him.

“He brings up a good point.” Geoff said, walking over to his chair and sitting down. “I want you two constantly checking in. And you let me know if you are hurt. None of this ‘I’m-bleeding-from-a-gun-wound-but-I’m-totally-fine’ bullshit.”

“Would we do that?” Meg fluttered her eyelashes at him.

“Geoff, we’ll be on our best behavior, Geoff.” Gavin added.

“Christ, I’m going to regret sending you two, aren’t I? Go, before I change my mind and send your better halves.”

The two of them giggled as they ran. Geoff shook his head, taking another sip. Why did he hire those morons again?

~

It was a quick drive to their apartment. The four of them shared one; Gavin, Michael, Meg, and Lindsay. It was close enough to Geoff’s penthouse (every crew members’ living space was) but far enough away so Geoff couldn’t hear them fucking. That had been an order from Geoff himself, backed up by the rest of the crew members.

Michael had laughed at that. They weren’t that loud.

(They were and it was mostly Michael’s fault. He was a screamer.)

So they were close enough that it was only a few minutes later that Gavin and Meg had arrived at their apartment building, taking the elevator to the top. “Do you have the list for what we need to pack?” Meg asked as she dug her keys from her purse.

“Dresses, suits, and guns. Check, check, check.” Gavin listed off.

“And knives. We can’t forget the knives.” Meg let out a soft ‘ _ha_ ’ when she finally located them.

“Like you would let me forget.” Gavin grinned as Meg unlocked the door and followed her inside. “We should probably go shopping again tonight. I think I need a better suit. The one I have is so last season.”

“You never like your suits after you’ve worn them twice.” Meg argued.

“And you don’t want to go get a new dress?” Gavin argued back.

“Well,” Meg sniffed, dropping her purse on the counter. “I didn’t say that.”

“Did someone say shopping?” Lindsay asked, stepping out into the living room. Both of them ogled her. Today was a business day. Which meant Lindsay was dressed in a pencil skirt and blazer, both in dark grey, with a white shirt underneath. A gold necklace gleamed against her pale skin and her blonde hair was up in a bun.

Meg whistled. “Very professional looking. Meeting later?”

Lindsay looked down at herself before looking back up at them, nose scrunched up in disgust. “Yeah. Meeting with Funhaus. I look silly don’t I?”

“Not at all, love. You look gorgeous.” Gavin complimented.

“Makes me want to play businesswoman and assistant later.” Meg winked.

Lindsay winked back, only the faintest hint of a blush present. “I’ll hold you to that.” She hesitated before looking back at Gavin. Jerking her head towards the backroom, she added. “Michael’s back there. He’s been waiting for you.”

Gavin stiffened. Meg gave him a sympathetic look and patted him on the back. “Talk to him? We go to New York tomorrow. You don’t want to leave on bad terms, do you?”

Gavin didn’t answer for a second before his shoulders went slack. “No, I don’t. You’ll stop us if anything gets bad?”

“Always.” The two women agreed. There had been one fight and one fight only, their first big one, where Michael had pulled a gun. It escalated from there with Gavin pulling his own and led to Meg holding a knife to Lindsay’s throat. It took two weeks of the crew begging them before they spoke to each other again. Since then, they had agreed to never let it get that far.  

Even so, Gavin left his pistol on the counter.

They had two bedrooms, a main one and their backup. The main one had a large bed to fit all four of them with two dressers (a girl and guy sort of thing) with their master bathroom attached. The backup was smaller, with only a twin sized bed and a small table with a lamp. Its main use was for hangovers and those who just wanted to sleep when the rest engaged in sex. And for when they got into fights.

That’s where Gavin had been sleeping and that’s where he found Michael. The older man sat on the bed, hands folded as he stared at the door. As soon as Gavin entered he jumped to his feet. And hesitated.

Gavin was the first to speak. “Hey.” He said, lamely.

“Hey.” Michael parroted.

Silence. Gavin stared at Michael. Michael stared back.

“Look,” Michael began. “Gavin, I’m sorry-“

“Oh, are you?” Gavin asked, holding onto that last bit of anger. But already he could feel his resolve crumbling. He didn’t hold grudges, especially not against his crewmates and _definitely_ not against his partners. Three days of not even being near his favorite lad was enough for him to cool down. Still, Gavin wouldn’t be Gavin if he didn’t at least put up a front.

Michael frowned but continued. “Yes, dickhead, I am. Meg called and chewed me out already.”

“Oh.” Gavin deflated. He hadn’t known that.

“Yeah, oh.” Michael ran a hand through his hair, causing the curls to bounce and stick up. “Fuck, Gavin, you know I’m not good at this talking shit but trust me when I say it wasn’t my intention to tell you you couldn’t do something.”

“But you said-“

“I know what I _said_. But that wasn’t what I _meant._ ”

“Then what did you mean?” Gavin asked, folding his arms across his chest.

 Michael sighed and sat down. He patted the bed next to him, looking up at Gavin hopefully. Gavin couldn’t resist that. He sat next to Michael and let the other man grab his hands. “Gavin, you’re one of the smartest people I know. You talk circles around our enemies and you know your way around a gun. Even if it’s golden.” That got a smile from Gavin. “We’ve been teammates forever and partners for three years. Why would I suddenly believe you couldn’t do something?”

Gavin bit his lip, feeling a bit silly now. It was possible he may have reacted a bit hasty. He gave Michael a shrug. “I don’t know. I guess, when you said that maybe I should sit this one out, I took that as you saying that I wouldn’t be able to do it. And then, when we were fighting, you said that sending a monkey in a suit would be better.”

Michael palmed the back of his head. “I didn’t mean that. I was angry that you were angry and…yeah. I said things I didn’t mean. I’m sorry for that and for every other stupid thing that came out of my mouth.”

Michael stared at Gavin. Gavin stared back.

“I guess,” Gavin grumbled. “I’m sorry too. For yelling and assuming that you were insulting me.” Gavin thought for a moment. “And for accidently unleashing Meg on you.”

“Yeah, that’s not fun. Please don’t do that again.” Michael smiled. “Are we good?”

Gavin smiled back. “Yeah, we’re good.”

“Good, so I can do this again.” Michael leaned in to kiss him, soft and gentle. It was Gavin who deepened it, practically crawling into Michael’s lap. Michael held him close, hands gripping Gavin’s bony hips, fingers flexing.

Several minutes later, they broke apart. Gavin grinned down at Michael, brushing a piece of hair out of his eyes. “I’ve missed you, my little Michael.”

“Missed you too, Gavvy.” Michael smirked, hands dipping lower to cup Gavin’s plush ass. “I’ve missed this too.”

Gavin laughed and slapped Michael’s chest, slowly untangling himself from the other man. “As much I would love to; we don’t have time. I promised Meg I would go with her to get her haired dye.”

Michael pouted up at him. Gavin grinned, leaning down to give Michael one last kiss, long and sweet. “How about,” he whispered against Michael’s lips. “When I get back from New York, we go out. Just us two.”

Michael pulled back, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

Gavin could see the smile playing along Michael’s lips. “Yeah. We go to dinner, drive recklessly through the streets, maybe kill a few people. Then, we go to our favorite place. And spend all. Night. There.” Gavin’s voice dropped to a sultry whisper.

Michael gulped. “Uh, y-yeah! Yeah. That sounds fun. A perfect date night.”

“Great.” Gavin bounced up, twirling to leave. “When we get back, it’s a date.”

A hand on his wrist stopped him.

Gavin looked back at Michael, blinking at the sudden serious expression on his face. “Wait, Gavin. There was something I wanted to tell you. It’s what I wanted to tell you before. Before our…misunderstanding.”

Gavin frowned. “What?”

Michael took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “The reason I told you to be careful, to be safe, was because of Coe. I’ve worked with him before-“

“You have?” Gavin interrupted. He hadn’t known that. Geoff hadn’t given them much information on Coe. They were to focus on Risinger, not the Backers, so they were only given the basics on the reformed crew. Was this something else Geoff hadn’t told them? Or did Geoff even know?

Michael nodded. “Back in Jersey, when I worked with my old boss. He would sometimes hire mercenaries for drug running and such. Tyler was one of those people.”

 _Tyler?_ Gavin wondered. And then wondered about how well Michael knew Coe.

“Listen, Gav. Be careful, please. You run into Coe, you stay on his good side.” There was something about Michael’s voice that sent a chill down Gavin’s spine.

“Michael?”

Michael looked away, thumb tracing circles along Gavin’s pulse point. “We aren’t good people. I know that. We kill civilians, sell drugs, and steal money. But there are lines we don’t cross and loyalties we won’t give up. We aren’t good people but we _know_ that. Coe doesn’t. Coe doesn’t have lines and if he did, he would tap dance past all of them. If it meant he could get to the top, that it would get him his fame and fortune, he’d gladly kill his own mother live on television.”

Michael finally looked back at Gavin, eyes burning into his. “I know your mission is Risinger. But if you’re dealing with the Backers and with Tyler Coe, you better be careful. You don’t believe a word that motherfucker says. And if it comes to you pulling guns? You aim to kill. No mercy.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm going to update this every Sunday, hopefully. As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

The problem with meeting with a man like Jon Risinger was that they couldn’t really call his secretary and set up an appointment with him. If Risinger wasn’t the leader of the Backers, local gangs would take one of the Fakes coming to visit as Ramsey making a move to expand. If Risinger _was_ the leader, it could result in a new rival. And local gangs would take it as Ramsey making a move. Plus, with Gavin being _the_ face of the Fake AH, police would be all over Risinger, watching every move the designer makes. Which gives the Fakes bad publicity with businesses they might want to set deals up with in the future.

Geoff could have just sent Meg if he hadn’t had to publicly declare Doll-Face under his protection a few months ago, thanks to threats being made on her life. And Geoff wouldn’t send anyone but his lead negotiators for a situation this delicate. Not if they wanted to avoid starting a cross-country war.

So they were stuck between a rock and hard place.

Except. This week was Fashion Week in New York. Where no one would think twice about why they, arguably the two most fashion conscious of the gang, would be there. Where world famous fashion designer, Jon Risinger, was going to unveil his new collection. And where Jon Risinger was hosting a party to start off the week.

“How do I look?” Meg asked, exiting the bathroom.

Gavin stopped messing with his cufflinks to look at Meg. He grinned, eyes slowly dragging over her body. “You look stunning, love. Absolutely marvelous.”

Meg’s dress was black and tight, a dangerous combination. The sides and back were open, showing off her creamy, flawless skin. Sleeves covered her arms, connecting along her collarbone that then made a v down to her waist, covering her breast with two thin strips. A slit freed her right leg, going about half-way up. Her hair, now dyed a dark brown, had been curled and styled to one side.

“You’re going to knock them dead.” Gavin added, once he was able to think clearly again.

“Too bad it isn’t that kind of party.” Meg giggled, eyes roaming over Gavin. “You don’t look half bad yourself.”

“Yeah?” Gavin raised his arms and slowly spun around. His suit was just as tight as Meg’s dress, cut to fit his slim form. Black with gold trimmings, the same shade of gold that matched his vest, tie, and hanky sitting neatly in his breast pocket. His shirt underneath was a couple of shades lighter. Combined with his blond hair and gold painted nails, he lived up to his Golden Boy image.

“Yeah. Can’t even tell you have a weapon on you.”

Gavin’s hand automatically went up to touch to his chest, where he had a small thin knife hidden, specially made to blend into the fabric. “That’s the point, innit?” Smirking, Gavin’s eyes slid down to Meg’s hidden leg. “Like how I can’t see that knife strapped to your thigh.”

Meg’s smirk was wide as she sashayed closer, hips swaying and drawing Gavin’s attention. A cat stalking closer to its prey, ready to pounce on the unsuspecting pretty bird. Once she was in front of the Brit, one hand grabbed the back of his head to bring him down to her level. The other was pressing that same knife he had been eyeing into his stomach. “You know I don’t go anywhere without one of my knives.”

Gavin didn’t flinch, just pressed closer till their lips were almost touching. “Not even when Geoff orders it?”

“Not even.” Meg whispered. Their kiss was long and slow. Gavin’s hands wrapped around Meg’s hips to bring her closer and Meg’s hand in his hair tightened. Breaking apart, Meg grinned and swiped a thumb over Gavin’s lips. “Great, now I have to re-apply my lipstick.”

“If you brought that kind I got, you wouldn’t have to.” Gavin said, lightly pushing her towards the bathroom.

“They don’t have my color.” Meg called back. Gavin could hear her rummaging around the bathroom. “And you know Geoff would never order us to go anywhere without something to protect ourselves.”

“No he wouldn’t. But he did say to not pull them unless absolutely necessary. And to be discrete about it.” Gavin argued.

For all intents and purpose, this was a regular party. No underhanded deals going on (supposedly). Which meant that no weapons were allowed. And unlike Los Santos, where it would be acceptable for the rich and famous to be carrying around guns (because you never know when the Fakes or Funhaus or Rooster Teeth were going to show up to crash whatever fancy gathering they were attending) the security here wouldn’t take too kindly to them going in with guns covering every inch of their person. On the other hand, because this wasn’t Los Santos and the rich and famous here didn’t act like the ones the duo were used to, that meant security wouldn’t look too hard for any ones that might be hidden.  

Especially if they had something else to focus their attention on. Like a bodyguard.

There was knock on the door. Gavin checked the peep hole before opening the door, grinning.

“Are you two done smacking lips so we can get a move on?” Dan Gruchy grumbled, arms crossed as he peeked into the room.

“Almost.” Gavin answered, allowing the other man inside.

“Great. Because I’m already itching to get out of this damn thing.” Dan pulled at his suit. His was a cheap rental, so it didn’t fit him quite as well as Gavin’s personal one. But it did its job of showing off the gun Dan had attached to his hip.

Jeremy or Ryan usually played the part of bodyguard but since Dan had already booked a visit, a short leave from his duties across the sea, both Brits thought it would better if he went to New York with them. A throw-back to old times when it was the two of them back in England, young and wild and just starting their criminal career. The time before Gavin was hired for a job here in America that turned out to lead to him moving and before Dan’s grandmother convinced him to give the military a try.

“You’re going to have to suck it up, Dan, because the night hasn’t even begun.” Meg told him, re-exiting the bathroom. But she gave the other Brit a warm smile and a kiss on the check.

Dan gladly accepted the kiss, giving his own wide smile. “Thanks. Now I’m doubly dreading tonight. You look lovely as ever, Meg.”

“You’re such a flatter. But, please if you insist, continue to compliment me.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and checked his watch. “We’re going to be late if we don’t hurry.”

“Oh, baby,” Meg cooed, giving him a pat on his check. “Don’t be jealous. You’re still my favorite Brit.”

“And it’s not my fault if your late.” Dan piped up. “You two are the ones that take bloody forever to get dressed.”

“It takes time to make one look good. You’re an example of why you should spend more than thirty minutes getting ready, B.” Gavin retorted, snottily.

The three of them argued about it all the way down to the hotel’s lobby, into the limo, and right up unto they pulled in front of the grand hotel where the party was being held.

~

Gavin had to hand it to Risinger, he knew where to throw a party. The Goldanda Hotel Plaza was the newest hotel to be built in New York City, big and tall and outstanding, just like John Goldanda who built it. Risinger must have more connections than they thought if he was able to pull off throwing a party on the hotel’s opening weekend.

It was crowded inside. Everyone who was anyone was there, mingling and making polite talk or business connections. Gavin and Meg had immediately split, Gavin taking Dan with him towards the bar while Meg talked amongst those on the main floor. Dan stood nearby while Gavin grabbed a champagne flute and flirted with a lady near him.

All three kept their eyes trained for the guest of honor. Or for any signs of the Backers.

An hour later, and Gavin went to find Meg. She was talking to an older looking woman who managed to look both bored and interested in what Meg was saying. Gavin silently slide up to Meg’s side and handed her one of the flutes he was carrying.

Meg took it without taking a break in what she was saying. “..so I told him that if he didn’t have the paperwork on my desk by Monday, I’d cut his balls off.”

The woman’s lips were the only thing to twitch, the rest of her face staying perfectly blank. “Fascinating story. If you excuse me, I must find my husband.”

Gavin waited till the woman was out of range before letting out a chuckle. “ _That_ was the story you came up with?”

“That’s what every important person says, right?” Meg broke out into a grin before throwing back the champagne. “Risinger better show up soon. My nose is starting to itch from all the overbearing perfume. Haven’t these people ever heard of a little bit goes a long way?”

Gavin sipped at his drink, hiding his grin. “Even if they had, I doubt they listen to anything but the sound of their own voice. I swear I was talking to a guy and it was like we were having two separate conversations.”

“I’m sorry my guest are annoying you, Mr. Free.”

It spoke volumes for Gavin and Meg’s professionalism that they didn’t stiffen or jump at the voice. Just smiled and turned to face the man they’ve been looking for.

Jon Risinger stood before them, one hand in the pocket of his suit pants, his own drink in the other. His usual shoulder length hair that the media was fond of fawning over was pulled back into a bun and his light beard neatly trimmed. He was shorter than Gavin had expected, but the intensity of his stare made up for it. Two, muscular guys stood behind Risinger. Obviously his bodyguards.

Gavin could feel Dan step closer to him.

“Not annoying.” Gavin amended, making sure to go completely relaxed. His voice was light, no trace of the earlier mocking in it. “Just talkative. It’s one thing I’ve noticed since arriving in this city. Everyone wants to talk, as long as it’s about themselves.”

That got Jon to crack a small smile. “You can’t expect me to believe you Californian’s aren’t talkers do you?”

“I’m British.” Gavin replied before shrugging. “But you may be right. Though the people I know usually have something important or interesting to say.”  

“And what important or interesting thing were you hoping someone would say tonight?” Jon tilted his head.

“We were actually hoping _you_ would say something interesting.” Meg cut in. “This is your party after all. Don’t hosts usually make a speech or something?”

Jon waved his hand. “No one wants to hear me drone on. They rather do what they’re doing now and then look at pretty clothes.”

“Shame.” Meg put her empty glass on the tray of a passing waiter. “If I had known that, I wouldn’t have insisted we come to this party so badly.”

“About that. Why _are_ you here?” Jon was still smiling but there was no humor in his voice or his eyes. His bodyguards drew closer. “I hope you know that the security is very tight. You won’t be able to do your normal…business tonight.”

Gavin snorted into his glass but Meg was the one to answer. “Trust me. It wouldn’t be us two you’d be seeing if we wanted to conduct our business.” Meg let that sink in for a second before turning chipper again. “Why is anyone here tonight? Fashion Week has begun. Where else would I be able to meet Marc Jacobs and Vivienne Westwood?”

“Right. Fashion Week.” Jon’s voice was dry. “Of course, why would I assume it was anything else?”

“Seems very judgmental of you.” Gavin sniffed. “I’m willing to forgive though. I know we don’t have the purest reputation.”

“Quite the opposite if the media is to be believed.”

“Who can trust the media? Bunch of lairs, the lot of them.”

Jon hummed, nodding his head, before going silent. The three of them stared at each other. Measuring. Seeming to shake himself, Risinger gave the two of them another plastic smile, raising his glass. “Well, as much as I would love to talk more, it would be rude of me to ignore my other guest. If you’d excuse me.”

Gavin raised his glass in turn and Meg nodded. “Of course.” The two of them watched Jon walk away, his bodyguards following.

“That went better than I thought it would.” Meg commented, snagging herself another glass.

“Better if you mean there wasn’t any screaming or running, then yes.” They both took a drink. “First impressions?”

“Quiet man if he’s not making any speeches at his own party. Suggests he’s either humble or he’s letting his party do all the talking. My bet is on the latter. You?” Meg looked over her shoulder, where Risinger was making small talk with another couple.

“Smart to come to us personally and not make a scene of it. Pays attention to the news, especially in the last few months if he recognized your face and your connection to what we do. But maybe not enough if he thought we would cower at the fact he had _security._ ” Gavin’s voice was scornful.

“He might have had a reason if all of his security was like his bodyguards.” Dan piped up. “Hired guns if I ever saw one.”

“Smart and powerful then. Deadly combination.” Meg replied. “We might have something to worry about.”

“If it turns out he’s our problem.” Gavin reminded her.

“Then let’s get to finding out.” Meg handed her glass to Dan, who fumbled to catch it. She stretched out her hand towards Gavin. “May I have this dance?”

Gavin snickered, handing his own glass to Dan. Dan cursed as it almost crashed to the ground. “Wouldn’t mind if I do.” He took her hand and they made their way to the dance floor.

Dan scowled after them. “Sure, I’ll take your drinks. It’d by my pleasure. You’re welcome by the way. Assholes.”

~

They danced and talked and flirted their way through the night, well up until the late AM. Now it was getting close to the sun rising and Gavin was busy typing away on his laptop. He had wanted a way to wind down from the party and working on Burnie’s money problem seemed like a great idea. Meg, well used to this, had given him a brief kiss before changing and passing out on the bed.

Gavin himself was still in his suit pants but had lost the jacket and vest. Now he was curled on the bed with his laptop in his lap. Occasionally, he yawned or paused when Meg shifted, but he was too absorbed in what he was doing to think about stopping.

The Golden Boy may be the face of the Fake AH’s but this, the work he did on his computer, was purely Gavin Free. It was what he enjoyed the most, what came almost natural. Being able to lose himself in data and numbers was so…freeing. It was also becoming increasingly rare with the responsibilities of the crew adding up. Which was why Gavin was so willing to do this easy job.

  Or supposedly easy job.

What should have taken no more than a few hours at the most for a professional such as him was soon becoming apparent that it was going to take more than that to fix the mess Larry made. He must have been smarter than Gavin had originally given him credit for.

Gavin frowned as he once again ran into a dead end. Sighing, he resigned himself to having to start the process all over. Letting his head drop against the headboard, Gavin stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Something wasn’t right. Larry couldn’t be this smart or he wouldn’t have gotten caught in the first place. Unless he just got sloppy. But the work Gavin was looking at now didn’t seem like the work of someone who would let themselves get careless. Maybe he should ask Burnie how the man had been caught…

“Gav?”

“Yeah?” Gavin asked, head rolling to the side so he could look at Meg.

Meg sat up, yawing and rubbing her eyes. “Get some rest. The first show is tomorrow, remember?”

“But-“

“But nothing.” Meg cut him off. “Rest. Burnie isn’t breathing down your neck to get this done. You can work on it another time. Like Geoff said, Risinger is our first priority.”

Gavin bit his bottom lip, giving his screen one last sad look before giving in. “You’re right. Sorry.” Closing his laptop, he gave Meg a kiss before laying down and cuddling up with her.

The Larry problem can wait for another time.

~

Gavin sipped at his tea, leaning back in his chair as he curiously watched people pass by. Meg sat across the table from him, on the phone. The sun was out in New York City and the two of them were at a small café right by their hotel, getting breakfast. The show didn’t start till noon later that day, so they were taking some time to get ready.

Which meant calling on old friends that lived around here for any information they might have.

“Right. Ok. Thanks. Yeah, good talking to you too.” Meg hung up and sighed before taking a bite of her muffin. “So. That was Jessica.”

“How is she?” Gavin asked, nibbling on his bagel.

“Fine. Nice talking to her. Haven’t seen her since Monaco, so it’s nice to know she’s still alive.”

“She know anything about the Backers? Or Tyler?”

“No.” Meg frowned down at her phone as it pinged, announcing a message. “Only what we’ve been hearing so far. That they thought the Backers were dead and if they’re alive, to be cautious.”

“There seems to be a lot of that going around. No one knows anything other than we should be careful.”

Meg shrugged. “The Backers don’t have that much history. From what Geoff gave us, it seems they started in West Virginia and made their way all over the East side until their supposed death in Massachusetts. Since then, no one’s heard a thing about them.”

“Maybe they’re not back.” Gavin mused. “Maybe Coe has gone back to his mercenary lifestyle. Maybe Trevor was wrong and it wasn’t even Coe who lead the robbery.”

“That’s a lot of maybes.” Meg reached across the table to lightly grab his hand. “None of them matter though. All we need to do is figure out if Risinger is involved.”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious, though?” Gavin leaned forward. “The Backers never became anything big and yet all I hear is that they’re dangerous. Their leader might be back from the dead and a fashion designer might be giving them money.”

“Of course, I’m curious.” Meg argued. “But being curious is no excuse to have Geoff ring our necks because we caused an incident.”

“When have we ever caused an incident?”

Meg raised an eyebrow. “That time in Dhaka? With the restaurant owner?”

Gavin grinned. “That time? That wasn’t an incident, that was a cleaver plan wrapped up in confusion.”

“You challenged the head chef to a cook off.”

“And if he had accepted, I totally would have won.”

“The owner had a gun to your pretty head and if Ryan hadn’t been there, he would have put a hole in it.” Meg was full on smiling now.

“All part of the plan.” Gavin kept smiling, eyes not leaving Meg’s as he squeezed her hand. “Is he still there?”

Meg’s eyes briefly flickered to the side. “Yeah. Still reading the same news page too. At least he’s on his second cup of coffee.”

A tail they noticed when leaving the hotel earlier sat in the café across from them. A young looking man with shaggy brown hair and ripped jeans. He had sat there too long, not doing anything except drinking coffee, to be anything but someone watching them.

“You want to take a walk? Test him out?”

Meg looked at her watch. “We have a few hours before the show begins. I suppose we can have a bit of fun.”

The two finished their breakfast before walking arm in arm around the corner. “Who do you think sent him?” Gavin asked. He kept his pace slow and even, matching Meg’s.

Meg pointed to a nearby building, ‘ohhing’ before resting her head on Gavin’s shoulder. “Could be anyone, really. Risinger would have the most time to get someone though.”

“You never know. Word spreads around fast. It would be a mistake to assume Risinger is responsible for everything.” They turned a corner and Gavin peeked to the side. As they suspected, the man was following them.

“True. If it is Risinger, you think he’s checking in on us? Seeing if we are here to actually do _business._ ” Meg couldn’t help snickering at the wording.

“That’s a possibility. We should feel flattered, really, that he’s showing such concern.”

“Yeah, I’m real flattered. You want to ditch this loser?”

“Absolutely.”

With a few twists and turns and a quick dip into the subway tunnels, their tail was lost and the two of them were getting ready for day one of fashion week.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments And Criticisms Welcomed! Please let me know what you think?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a brief flashback in the middle, I hope I made that obvious. As always I hope you enjoy.

The Golden Boy image was created out of necessity. As the crew was growing, it became obvious that they needed someone other than Geoff to handle negotiations, especially when one of those negotiations turned out to be a trap set up by the police. Jack was good, was great in fact, but Gavin made himself the best. Forced himself to be. Years of watching others through a camera had allowed him to pick up on subtle movements of humans, could tell by the pitch of their voice if violence was in their future, and thus was able to control those same things in himself.

Doll-Face came about from survival. Years of going back and forth between the streets and foster homes had taught a young Meg that survival was of the rich or those with connections to the rich. And when she became good at making those connections, years later, it became a sort of game to her. Do a little here, makes some friends there, and suddenly Meg had people owing her favors from almost every country in the world. The Golden Boy was a mask that Gavin wore, one that he could take off anytime he wanted, but Doll-Face _was_ Meg.

There was a reason Burnie Burns had wanted her, after all.

Gavin had seen Meg in action plenty of times (they were both work and life partners after all) but it never ceased to amaze him every. Single. Time. The first fashion show of that day was just another example.

“Martha, how nice to see you again.”

“Jacob, looking great as ever. How is your wife?”

“Nicole! I had no idea you would be here. I thought you were still in Japan.”

“Steven, it’s been ages since I’ve saw you.”

Gavin watched, with a small smile, as Meg walked through the crowd, greeting various people. With the way they nervously greeted her back, Gavin got the hint that they were people with their fingers in something illegal and that Meg knew what that something was.

The only person to not look nervous was a young girl with dark black hair and the same smile Gavin had. “Meg, looking gorgeous. How are you?”

Gavin held back as Meg walked forward to give the girl a kiss on the cheek. “Mariel, my girl. I’ve been great. You?”

Mariel was sort of in the same business as Meg was, the business of information and connections. Unlike Meg, though, who had aligned herself with a crew, Mariel was a freelancer who spent a lot of time in New York, selling her info to anyone willing to pay. Gavin didn’t know a lot about the history between the two girls. Only that they had met each other in Mexico, where a shootout between their bosses at the time occurred. Then they had raced each other to Texas and, in between patching each other up, became great friends.

He figured it wasn’t any weirder than how he met Michael.

“Wonderful. You don’t know how happy I was to get your text. I’ve always wanted to go to a Fashion Week show but never had a good enough excuse to take off work.” Mariel returned the kiss.

“Man, for a second there, I thought you were happy to see me. Nice to know that I’m just here to get you out of work.” Meg was grinning as Mariel and her sat down in their reserved chairs. Gavin sat next to Meg. Dan, who had no desire to sit there for hours and look at clothes, was back at their hotel, trying to get confirmation on Jon’s hired guns.

“You know I’m always happy to see you. Wished it wasn’t for business though.” Mariel said, leaning forward to wave at Gavin. He waved back.

“And who says this is business?” Meg asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mariel rolled her eyes. “I know you wouldn’t come all the way to New York just to see some people strut around unless it was for business.”

“Are we really that transparent?”

“Just to someone who’s known you for years now.” Mariel turned so the two of them could see her frown. “You’ve got a lot of people talking. Sort of stirred up the underbelly here.”   

“Figures. Can’t go anywhere without people gossiping about us.” Meg joked. She put her hand on Mariel’s shoulder. “Don’t worry though, we’re not here to do anything drastic. We’re just sort of…poking our nose around.”

“That worries me more. Ramsey knows what could happen if he pokes too hard, doesn’t he?”

“Tell everyone you talk to that Ramsey isn’t interested in New York.” Gavin piped up. “We’re here to see if the whispers are true and then we’ll be gone.”

“What whispers?” Mariel asked.

“Have you heard of a gang called the Backers?” Meg asked back.  

Mariel’s lips pursed before she leaned back in her chair. “Yeah, I heard of them. Hard not to on this side of the States. They might not have been big, but they could have been. If it wasn’t for the fire.”

“Everyone seems to know about the fire, but us. Can you tell me about it?”

Mariel shrugged. “They were hired for a job, did the job, and got their money. But the person who hired them turned and sold them out to the police. Que a shootout at their safe house where a loose grenade blew the whole thing up. Supposedly they died in the fire.”

“Supposedly?” Meg raised an eyebrow. “So I take it, you’ve heard the same stories we have?”

“That there have been Coe sightings? Yeah. I don’t believe it. I saw the bodies myself. Disgusting burnt things. But I take it you do?”

It was Meg’s turn to shrug. “That’s what we’re here to find out. You saw the bodies?”

“Of course I did.” Mariel gave Meg a grin, but it wasn’t happy. “Someone wanted confirmation that they were dead. I gave it to them.”

Meg nodded, not bothering to ask who hired her. Mariel wouldn’t give them a name. It was just the way the business was.

“I’m really interested in how you looking for the Backers is connected to you interrogating a fashion designer.” Mariel asked, causally after a few minutes of silence.

Meg blinked at her in surprise. “How’d you hear about that?”

“It’s my job to know these things. Plus, you don’t think it wouldn’t be noticeable that two high profile gang members walk into a party and are seen talking with the host?” Mariel smirked.

“That doesn’t mean we were interrogating him.” Meg pushed out her bottom lip. “Why do people always assume the worst of us?”

“Are you really asking that?”

“We do have other hobbies besides being criminals, you know.”

“So you weren’t questioning Risinger?”

“No, we were.”

Mariel threw up her hands. “See? This is why everyone analyzes your every move.”

Gavin and Meg looked at each other. “Yeah, I guess you have a point.” Gavin relented. “But that doesn’t mean everything we do has to involve the business.”

Mariel flapped her hand at him. “Sure, sure. So tell me.” Mariel leaned closer to them, a gleam in her eyes. “How do the two connected?”

Meg sighed. “So. We got word that Coe was sighted leading a bank robbery. Not a total confirmation but I trust the person who gave us the information enough to believe them. Which lead to trying to follow where he disappeared to. Again, no total confirmation, but there have been rumors that have him going to Colorado or somewhere in that area. Until he showed himself again, we would have lost Coe.”

“But?”

“But then we got lucky. While our informants were rooting around, they came up with some weird names. Most of them were criminals we were already know of, like the Creature boys. There was one name though that caught our attention.

Mariel’s eyes widened, realization hitting her. “Risinger.”

Meg nodded. “Risinger bought some warehouses in that area, three little ones and one big one. Further investigation revealed that he has no family there, and no places of residents for himself. Not even a pregnant girlfriend he’s trying to hide.” 

“So why is he buying property out there?” Mariel whispered, a cease in her forehead.

“That’s what we want to know. Are the two connected? Or are we just chasing a false lead?”

“Seems like a thin lead to follow.” Mariel side-eyed them. “He’s a CEO, could be wanting to build a factory.”

The lights turned down as pumping music blared through the room. They watched as the announcer came out, welcoming them to the show. Meg leaned over towards Mariel and Gavin strained to hear her.

“That what makes us the best. We follow every lead till we get the right one.”

~

“Let us meet up sometime. We have a lot of catching up to do.” Mariel said as Meg and her hugged. The big room they were in now was for people to hang around as they cleaned up one show and prepared for the next. There were waiters bringing around trays of drinks and food.

Meg pulled back, hands still on Mariel’s shoulders. “Are you sure you can’t stay?”

Mariel shook her head. “Unfortunately, my boss will kill me if I skip anymore. But dinner, right?”

“Right.” They hugged again before Mariel left, waving goodbye to Gavin.

Gavin watched her go, waiting till she turned the corner before looking at Meg. “She’s not telling us something.” It was a statement, not a question.

Meg turned to follow everyone else, Gavin walking close by. “Yep.”

“But why?”

Meg looked over her shoulder, towards the place Mariel had exited. “That’s what I would like to know.”

Gavin thought about what Geoff told him before he left Los Santos.

~

“You two have everything you need?” Geoff had asked, right before Gavin was about to get on the plane that would take him to New York. Even over the phone, Gavin could tell the boss was distracted, most likely by paperwork. Several new shipments of weapons were coming in soon and the crew had heard no end to the complaining from Geoff over the amount of paperwork he was dealing with.

Gavin rolled his eyes as he handed his airplane ticket over to be scanned. “It’d be too late if we didn’t. We’re boarding now.”

“Geoff going all daddy on you?” Meg had asked as she too handed over her ticket.

“Yeah and it’s annoying.” Gavin complained.

“Hey, assholes, I can still hear you.” Geoff shouted at them.

“We know.” Gavin replied. “That’s the point.” Meg went ahead of him into the airplane since they were sitting apart. They both preferred to travel that way, claiming it allowed them to get extra work done. Michael said it was because they just liked to be difficult.

“Anyway,” Geoff’s voice cracked at the word, a sign that he was annoyed. “Once you two land, text me. I want to know everything from the time you arrive to the time you leave New York.”

“Yes dad.” Gavin chimed, moving to enter the plane.

“And stop calling me that.” There was some rustling of papers, the sound of a pen scratching against them. “Did Meg get that list of people I want her to check with?”

“Yep. She’s already working on it.” Gavin stuffed his bag in the overhead compartment, before sitting down.

“Good. Ok then I’ll leave you two to it.” Geoff sighed. “Be careful. The Backers were not ones to be messed with.”

“You know, for a dead crew, they sure seem to make others cautious.” Gavin joked.

The line went silent.

“Geoff?”

“They were never dead.”

“What?” Gavin squawked. “But everyone says-“

“Yeah, everyone claims they died in that fire.” Geoff’s voice was monotone. “I never believed it. They were too good to be killed by an accident.”

“Then why say it all?” Gavin demanded. If the crew had never died, then that meant all the information they had on them was wrong. Useless. “Why never mention it to us?”

“Because I don’t want you fuckers anywhere near the Backers, you got that.” Gavin’s mouth snapped close at the sudden seriousness in Geoff’s voice. “I want you to focus on Risinger and that’s it.”

“Geoff,” Gavin began, cautiously. “You know we can’t do our job if we have misinformation.”

Geoff sighed. “I know buddy. Sorry, it’s-back when I was still with the Roosters and control over Los Santos was still a pipe dream away, Matt hired the Backers to help us on a job. It…It didn’t end well, Gavin, and we ended up paying the Backers to get the hell away from us.”

Gavin flopped back in his chair, staring disbelieving in front of him. “I thought I knew all your stories, how come I haven’t heard about this?”

“You haven’t heard nearly all my stories, kid.” Geoff’s laugh was mirthless. “And you never heard about it because it wasn’t relevant. Everyone thought they were dead.”

“Everyone but you.”

“Yeah. Everyone but me. Personally, I think it’s because they wanted to believe that the Backers were dead. Can’t say I really blame them. Me. Me, I wanted to know for sure. Flew down to the fucking site myself. And you know what I found out?”

“What?”

“Nothing. There were no bodies. Police said that the grenade blew them to pieces, but I didn’t believe that. Surely they would have found even a dick piece, right?”

“Right.”

“They didn’t, though. I couldn’t find it in me to accept that that was the true ending for them. Call it trusting my gut. I talked about with the others before, but they laughed and called my paranoid. Like, I said. I think everyone wanted to believe that they were gone.”

“Why? Why would Burnie and Matt and Gus want to believe that the Backers were gone? Why ignore the facts?”

The line was silent for a long time. So long, that Gavin was about to ask again when Geoff said, in a low voice. “You had to work with them, Gavin, to understand.”

~

“Why would Mariel lie?” Meg asked, bringing Gavin back to New York. She was nodding to people as they walked through the crowd. “If no bodies were found, why tell us that there were? Why tell us she _saw_ the bodies herself?”

“She’s hiding things and we need figure out what.” Gavin mumbled. He grabbed two drinks, smiling at the waiter, and handed one over to Meg. Taking a sip, he looked at the way Meg just frowned down at hers. “Do you think we gave too much away?”

“No. We never do. Play our cards close our chest, right?” Meg replied. She was still frowning.

“Hey.” Gavin pulled Meg close, giving her a hug. “It’s fine. I’m sure she had her reasons for lying.”

“She doesn’t lie to me though. Not since Texas.” Meg mumbled into his shoulder. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“I do too.” Gavin agreed. “I do too.”

Gavin kept Meg pressed against him for a few more minutes before the buzzing of his phone brought them out of their moment.

Gavin pulled out his phone and sighed. “It’s Dan.”

 Leaning back, Meg smiled up at him. “Work never stops. While you talk to him, I’ll go mingle.”

Gavin watched her walk off, ignoring how his phone kept buzzing. He’d have to remember to text Lindsay later. She was always the best at cheering her partners up. Finally, he answered his phone. “Yeah, B?”

“Mercenaries.” Was the first thing Dan said. “Risinger’s bodyguards are definitely mercenaries. And good ones too. Probably some of the best. Over 40 kills between the two of them.”

“Huh.” Gavin was leaning against the wall, away from the crowds. “Now why would Risinger need mercenaries to play bodyguards for him?”

“That’s a very good question. I’ll try to get more info, B, but this worries me. Be careful.” Dan advised.

“If I hear that one more time, I’m going to scream.” Gavin mumbled. “Thanks, B. You be careful too. Don’t get too mixed up in this.”

Dan laughed. “As if I’m not already.” Then he hung up.

Gavin stared at his phone, thinking. There was only one reason someone would hire mercenaries and that was if they were in trouble or thought they were in trouble. So that raised the question, what sort of trouble was Risinger in? 

~

Later that night, Dan met them back in their hotel room. “Blaine Gibson and Aaron Marquis. On the record, Gibson has about thirteen kills. Off the record, he has over twenty. Marquis is even more impressive, if only because he’s been in the business longer. Twenty kills, on the record. Off? No one has any idea.”

Meg whistled from where she sat on the bed. Dan stood beside her. The paperwork Dan could get on the mercenaries laid between them. “So we’re dealing with professionals.”

“But why?” Gavin asked. He paced in front of them.

Dan picked up one of the pages. “Says here, that the two of them were last seen over in the middle east.”

Meg furrowed her brows, before looking over at Gavin. Gavin looked back at her. “Risnger went over to the middle east recently for a shoot.”

Dan raised an eyebrow. “So he picked them up over there?”

“Or went over there specifically for them under the disguise of doing a photo shoot.” Gavin sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Why? Why is he doing all of this?”

“Maybe he is getting into the criminal life?” Meg suggested. “Everything he’s doing, it points to that.”

“Does it matter?” Dan asked. He looked at the two of them. “As long as he isn’t connected to the Backers, what do we care if he gets into the business?”

Meg bit her lip. Gavin wouldn’t look at Dan. Dan kept looking at them. “No.” He finally said, shaking his head. “No. You promised.”

“Dan-“ Gavin tried.

“You said that all we’re doing is digging for information.” Dan barreled on, ignoring Gavin. “That Geoff doesn’t want anything more than to know if the Backers are involved.”

“Dan,” Gavin tried again. “We have to know.”

“No you don’t.” Dan shot back. “You don’t have to know anything but what we came here for. You promised, B.”

“We have to know.” Meg said, voice small. “You know we do.”

Dan stared at them. Then he stood up and stormed for the door. Gavin grabbed his hand, stopping the man. “B. Please.” He begged.

“I’m fine,” Dan began, not looking back at Gavin. “With you being a criminal. It’s your life, I don’t care. But I made a promise. That life isn’t for me and I want none of it. I’ll play bodyguard, but no more.”

“We’re not asking for more.” Gavin soothed. “We’re still trying to find out if the Backers are involved at all.”

“We just want to go a little further and confirm that Jon is working his way into the underground.” Meg added. “And if he is, under what gang? It’s for the good of our crew, Dan, you know that.”

“You know us, B. You know we have to do this.”

Dan sighed, shoulders slumping. He turned to face Gavin. “I know. You’re too stupid to know when to quit.”

Gavin smiled. “You’ll stay?”

“Yeah. But I won’t be happy about it. Just.” Dan frowned and crossed his arms. “Promise me we aren’t going to do anything stupidly dangerous to satisfy your curiosity.”

They smiled up at him. “Promise.”

Dan smiled back. “Ok then.”

“By the way, you can’t tell Geoff.”

“…That doesn’t make me fell very confident about this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments And Criticisms Welcomed. Come talk to me on my tumblr-Ganglylimbs


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have no idea how to hack or how computers work, sorry. Hope that part isn't too confusing. Also, there is slight nsfw this chapter. Nothing too bad or descriptive and it's over real quick. As always, hope you enjoy!

As soon as he settled down into the bed, with his computer in his lap and hot tea on the table by the bedside, Gavin let out a sigh. He needed this relaxation. He pulled up the ongoing file for Larry and his trouble-making.

Burnie had gotten back to him and given him the run-down on how Larry was caught. It just supported Gavin’s theory that Larry wasn’t smart enough have done this himself. Who steals money from a crime boss in the same building as said boss. Especially when the crime boss has one Joel Heyman as his money man. That man knows exactly how much money comes in and out of Rooster Teeth and where it all goes. Down to every last penny.

Who tries to steal from Joel Heyman? An idiot, that’s who.

But even an idiot can laundry money. Except for the fact that Larry left too many clues that it was him who was stealing the money. Which made Gavin suspicious that Larry was only a scape goat for whoever actually was behind it.

Gavin had no doubt that Larry was involved in it, but he was more of a Trojan Horse. Gavin sent a message back to Burnie about his thoughts before he continued on with his search through the files. As his fingers began typing, he could feel his brain unwinding.

Yeah, he really needed this.

~

Gavin looked himself over in the mirror, tightening his suit. His suit fit snugly around him and his hair was slicked back. Perfect. Smiling, Gavin checked his phone one last time before heading out, seeing if Meg had texted back.

Today, they decided to split up. Meg was going to try to get some more info from Mariel (and give her another chance to tell the truth) while Dan and Gavin made another appearance at the fashion shows. Dan had agreed on the grounds that he got to flirt with the pretty people there.

Walking out of the bathrooms where the show was being held, Gavin pocketed his phone, feeling the presence of Dan sliding up behind him. They disappeared into the crowd already gathered there for the show. It was a smaller one, a newer designer’s show, so they hoped that would explain away Meg’s disappearance.

The two of them mingled for a while before the lights blinked twice and then they found their seats. Gavin was looking over at Dan, watching in amusement as the man switched between the people around him, giving them each a flirty pickup line, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Putting on his best polite smile (as though he wasn’t incredible annoyed at being touched) Gavin looked over.

It was Jon Risinger.

Gavin could feel his smile tighten as Jon gave his own smirk. “Hello, Mr. Free.”

“Risinger.” Gavin greeted back. “What do I owe the pleasure of meeting you here?”

“Can’t I enjoy a fellow designer’s show?” Jon replied, raising one of his eyebrows.

“Maybe, but you sitting in Turney’s seat.” Gavin smoothly replied, nodding down at the seat Risinger sat in.

Jon looked down. “So I am. Where is the lovely Ms. Turney?”

“Out with a friend. What would you like, Risinger?” Gavin was good at keeping his ire down. Years of practice. But man, did Risinger make Gavin want to break that. Something about his face.

Risinger’s eyes went a touch colder. “How much would I have to pay Ms. Turney and you to leave New York immediately?”

Gavin thought it over. Then he smiled. “I’m afraid you can’t afford my price.”

Risinger’s smile turned strained. “I can assure you, I have more than enough to satisfy your needs.”

Gavin place a hand over his heart and fluttered his eyelashes. “Aw, I’m flattered. But unfortunately, I’m taken. And have all the money I need.”

“Then what can I offer you, Mr. Free?”

“Why do you want us leave so bad?” Gavin asked back, tilting his head. Dan was paying attention now. Out of the corner of his eye, Gavin noticed the mercenaries-turned-bodyguards were standing nearby, probably also paying close attention to their conversation.

“You’re making people nervous.” Risinger leaned back in his chair, arms crossing over his chest. “It’s bad for business. You know how these things go.”

“That,” Gavin turned to give Risinger the full force of his smirk, “Seems like your problem and not ours.”

Risinger raised an eyebrow. “And if I were to make it your problem?”

“That sounds like a threat.” Gavin finally allowed his smile to drop. “Are you threatening me, Risinger?”

Risinger’s lips twitched. “Now, it would be stupid of me to threaten _you_ of all people, Mr. Free. I just want you to see it from my end. I’ve had a few clients leave because they heard people from the Fake AH were here. I’m losing business because of you. How is that supposed make me feel?”

“Oh I can assure you, Risinger. It would be a very, big mistake, if you were to threaten me.” Gavin’s voice was low. Then he was smiling again. “But if there’s one thing I can understand, it’s business. Tell whatever partners you have that we’re be gone in a few days, so it won’t ruin you. Completely.”

“So, what I’m hearing is, nothing I can say will get you to leave? Is that right?” Risinger asked.

Gavin shrugged. “Nothing personal.”

Risinger stared at him for a long time. “Right. Then how about you fill me in? What’s got the two of you so interested in New York?”

“We’ve told you, it’s Fashion Week.”

“And yet, you’ve never been to Fashion Week before in your life. So why this year?”

“Never had the time before.” Gavin smoothly lied.

“So you, all of a sudden, decided to make time?” Gavin nodded. “Ok. Why my party? There were several other parties going on at the time. Why show up at my party?”

“And miss the biggest party of this year’s biggest designer? Risinger, you surprise me.” Gavin teased.

“You came looking for something.” Risinger continued, pressing. “You came to my party, talked to my associates, cause me trouble. To look for something. And I want to know what?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“My party, my show, remember. It’s absolutely my business.” Risinger argued.  

“Can’t it be because we just want to have some fun?” Gavin argued back.

“No. The only thing that you criminals consider _fun_ is the all the mayhem and murder and destruction you cause.” Risinger spat.

“I’d watch who your pointing fingers at.” Gavin said, the barest hint of venom in his voice. He tilted his head toward Rinsinger’s bodyguards. “You hired murders after all. I bet they like to cause destruction all their own.”

Risinger’s eyes widened, slightly. “You checking in on me?”

“Checking in on everyone. Don’t want any surprises. We’re wanted after all.”

Risinger leaned back in his chair, looking over Gavin. Gavin didn’t move, just stared back. “Now I know why no one wants to work with you.”

“That’s harsh.” Gavin pushed out his lower lip. When all he got was a glare back, Gavin went back to smiling. He leaned forward, into Risinger’s personal space. “Listen, Risinger. I just want to enjoy my time in New York, so I’ll give you this warning. We all have secrets we want to keep, especially popular people like you. As long as your secrets don’t interfere with my crew, then we’re good.”

“Now it sounds like your threatening me.” Risinger said. He stood his ground, but Gavin took the small victory of seeing him make the tiniest flinch.

Gavin leaned back. “Now, why would I do that? Unless you _do_ have those type of secrets?”

Thunder flashed across Risinger’s eyes. He stood up. “We’re done now.”

“That sounds like a yes to me.”

“You need to leave New York, Mr. Free.” Was all Risinger said before standing up and leaving. His two bodyguards flanked him.

“You right pissed him off.” Dan said, finally putting away the phone he had been pretending to look at.

“Yeah. But why?” Gavin wondered. “We’ve only talked to him once since we got here.”

“You do have the ability to piss off people with only a few looks.” Dan supplied.

Gavin punched him in the arm. “Sod off. I’m perfectly lovely.”

“Perfectly lovely my arse.” Dan joked. He turned around to look at where Risinger left. “So.”

“So.” Gavin repeated.

“You just got threatened by a very powerful man.”

“So I did. Not my first time though.”

“Maybe not, but it’s still not a good thing.”

“No. Especially when I don’t know why I’m being threatened.”

“I think your theory that Risinger is getting into some seedy business is gaining more traction.”

“Yeah. I think so too.” His phone chippered, alerting Gavin that someone texted. Sighing, he pulled it out. Then he sat up straight. “Dan, we need to go back to the hotel.”

“What? Why? The show hasn’t even started yet.” Dan asked, bewildered.

Gavin stood and pushed past people going to their seats. “Wait, Gavin.” Dan called, catching up with the other. He gripped Gavin’s wrist, stopping the Brit in his tracks. “Gavin. What’s going on?”

“It’s Meg.” Gavin answered in a rush. He pushed his phone at Dan, who struggled to grip it. “Someone tried to grab her after leaving her meeting with Mariel.”

~

“It was a dark van, black.” Meg said, as Gavin helped bandage her arm. “Peeled away so fast I couldn’t read the license plates. I’m not even sure the van actually had license plates.”

“And how many were there?” Dan asked.

“As far as I could tell, four. A driver, someone in the back, and two who tried to grab me. As soon as I kneed the one guy and broke the other’s arm, they knocked me down and jumped in the van. Then they drove away.” Meg snorted. “Bunch of bitches, really.”

“Sound like it.” Gavin grunted, as he tied off the last of the bandages. “They give any reason why they tried to kidnap you?”

“No. Just shouted at me to get in the van and grabbed my arm.”

“Idiots.” Gavin and Dan both mumbled. Meg smiled.

“Yeah, total idiots.” She flexed her arm, wincing slightly at the pain. “But idiots who tried to kidnap me none the less.”

Gavin stood up. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Risinger threatened me the same time someone came after you.”

“How would he know where I’d be though?” Meg asked.

“Bugs? Trackers?” Gavin replied.

“We check for bugs regularly though.” Dan chimed in. “And Risinger sounded surprise that Meg wasn’t with you today.”

Gavin ran his hand through his hair. “Who else would be after you?”

“There are about a million different gangs here. Any one of them could be getting restless with us stepping all over their turf.” Meg said.

“So that’s it? It could be anyone?” Gavin asked, throwing up his hands.

“Hey, hey, calm down, baby.” Meg stood up, walking over to where Gavin had his back turned towards him. She wrapped her arms around his waist. “It’s ok.”

Gavin sighed, hand coming up to thread his fingers through hers. He felt Meg’s head thump against his back. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just worried.”

“I know, I am too.” Meg said. “But think of it this way. Risinger threatening us means we’re getting closer to revealing his secrets. People trying to kidnap me? That could be Risinger trying to get at us. Or just a random attack. These kind of things have happened before, and I don’t doubt that they will happen again.”

“Your right. As always.” Gavin turned to smile down at her.

“About time you recognize that.” Meg leaned up give Gavin a chaste kiss. “Now, if only I could convince Michael to admit it.”

“Your on your own for that one. I’m looking forward to the fight though.”

“Oh, I’m absolutely going to win. I fight dirty, remember.” Meg gave him a wink.

“Oh yeah I do. Totally worth it.” Gavin turned towards Dan, smirking. “Best sex ever.”

Dan scrunched up his nose and stuck out his tongue. “That’s gross. You’re gross. Stop telling me about your sex life.”

“But Dan,” Gavin whined, grinning as Dan started heading for the door. “Who else am I going to tell when I get a good roggering.”

Dan plugged his ears, chanting as loud as he could. “No. No. Nope. Not listening. I’m going to go back to my room and forgetting this ever happened.”

“Dan, you don’t want to hear about the time Lindsay and I-“ Gavin was cut off with “Fuck you” and the door slamming. Gavin looked over at Meg. They burst out laughing.

“You’re terrible to him.” Meg said through her giggling.

“Of course. He’s my, B.” Gavin replied. “Speaking of Lindsay, we should probably text Michael and her before they start worrying.”

“We should probably also text Geoff. Let him know that I was attacked.”

They stared at each other.

“I call Lindsay.” Meg shouted.

“Lind-shit.” Gavin cursed at the same time.

Meg gave him a sympathetic smile. “Look. Just tell him that I was meeting with a client and that we don’t know who did it. Which we don’t, so it’s the truth.”

“And if he asks how our mission is going?”

“That we think there’s something going on with Risinger.”

“He’s going to tell us to stay out of it.” Gavin warned.

“And we will.” Meg assured him with a glint in her eyes. “When we get conformation, we’ll stay out of it.”

“He’s going to be so pissed at us.” Gavin said, already texting.

“We’ll deal with that when we get home. But I bet he’ll be happier with the information we have then bitching out for something as stupid as safety.”

Gavin gave her a grin. “You’re a bad person, you know that.”

“Oh I know, baby. I know.”

Gavin sent his text, with as much information condensed down as he could. “By the way, how’d your talk with Mariel go?”

“Oh yeah. I forgot about in all of the fun that happened afterwards.” Meg sent her own text before setting her phone down and taking a deep breath. “Mariel knows more about the Backers than she’s letting on.”

“Oh really?” Gavin sat in the only chair in room.

“Anytime I brought them up, she either tried to deflect to another topic. Or she’ll be very vague with her answer. I even questioned her about seeing their dead bodies and all she would give me was that, yeah she definitely saw them but they were burnt beyond reorganization.”

“If she didn’t know them how would she know what they looked like? Why would she be able to recognize them if they were burnt?”

“That’s what I asked.” Meg exclaimed. “She said that she saw pictures.”

“And that qualified her to recognize them?” Gavin asked.

Meg shrugged. “I’ve been hired to do some of the same stuff with less. But it does seem weird. If whoever hired really wanted to make sure the Backers were dead, then why not get someone who worked with them?”

“None of this is adding up.” Gavin looked at her. “You think she had something to do with the Backer’s death?”

Meg bit her lip. “I don’t know. It’s becoming more and more obvious that she had _something_ to do with them.”

Gavin stared at her. Meg didn’t flinch under his gaze. “What else did Mariel say?”

Meg sighed. “She suggested that it might be best if we left.”

Gavin’s eyebrows shot up. “Does everyone just wants us gone?”

“The price of being awesome.” Meg stood up and stretched. “I’m going to change. Can you order room service?”

“Yeah. Steak?”

“You know me so well.” She walked over to give Gavin another chaste kiss. Gavin’s phone buzzed. Meg smiled at him. “Good luck with that.”

Gavin made a face at her, which she just laughed at. Looking at his phone, Gavin shook his head. He had several messages from Geoff and one from both Michael and Lindsay. He answered those first before moving on to Geoff. Geoff was not happy, just like they thought.

“What’s he saying?” Meg asked as she switched into a comfy shirt.

“He’s on to us, says why the fuck we’re digging too deep into this. I think he’s threatening to order us back home if we continue.”

Meg snorted. She pulled on some soft pajamas. “Tell him we’re handling what he wanted us to handle.”

“How about you tell him yourself. Like I want to be grouched out.”

“Fine.” She grabbed Gavin’s phone, fending off the Brit as she typed out the response. Hitting send, she gave Gavin a smug smirk. “There. All done.”

“You’re a mingy prick.” Gavin glared at her, already dreading the text back.

“Yeah I am. Now, go order me a nice, juicy steak.” Meg shooed him away.

Gavin grumbled all the way to the phone.  

~

Gavin rubbed his tired eyes, frustration beginning to pound a headache into his skull. After the text Meg sent, Geoff had called and it took them ages to talk him off the edge. That had been a headache and a half. It annoyed Gavin that Geoff had so little faith in them for this. What was it about the Backers that made Geoff question his lead negotiators?

And now Gavin had hit another dead end in his continuingly search for who was pulling Larry’s strings. No matter which way he tried to go at the problem, he wasn’t getting results. He had come close, once, but then he hit a wall that he couldn’t get around.  

Now he was here, staring at his screen and wondering what to do. Where was he going wrong?

“What’s wrong, babe?” Meg sleepily mumbled. She pushed up so she was leaning on her elbows, the covers piling around her waist, squinting at him.

“I can’t figure this out.” Gavin grumbled.

Meg leaned over till she could rest her head against his chest, looking at his computer. Gavin ran his fingers through her hair. “You’re thinking too hard about it.”

Gavin snorted. “As if I can think about anything else.”

“I can help you with that.” Meg pushed the computer away and rolled over, so she was straddling Gavin’s waist.

Gavin grinned up at her as she cupped his face. “I like where this is going.”

Meg ground down on him “I bet you do.” She leaned down to give Gavin a passionate kiss. Gavin’s lips parted as the kiss turned heavy. All the while, Meg was moving her hips and pressing closer to him, hands roaming over exposed skin.

Gavin’s eyes widened. “Mmm. Mmm.” Gavin gently pushed Meg away. Mistaking what Gavin wanted, she leaned down to bite at his throat. “Wait, wait.”

“What?” Meg asked, concern. “Did I do something?”

“What? No, no. You were great.” Gavin replied, distracted. “I was just thinking…I went about this all wrong.”

Meg frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“The wall.” Gavin replied, excitedly. He grabbed at his computer, ignoring Meg’s huff as she rolled off him. “I was trying to go around the wall when I should be going over it.”

“You’ve finally gone crazy.”

“No, no. Meg, don’t you see. The wall can help me.” Gavin typed at his computer, eyes scanning over the words filling his screen.

“You are unbelievable.” Meg complained, picking herself up. “I’m texting Lindsay. I’m sure she’ll give me what I want.”

“Uh-huh.” Gavin mumbled.

“Unbelievable.” Meg repeated.

Gavin ignored her, fingers flowing over the keys on his laptop. Why hadn’t he thought about this before? It seemed so simple now. Files began to appear before him, encouraging Gavin to continue what he was doing.

Besides him, Meg was making lewd noises, no doubt following up on her threat to sext Lindsay.

The Brit briefly stopped when a file he never noticed before popped up. Quickly clicking on it, Gavin scanned over the data. Frowning, Gavin followed the information. He became dead to the outside world.

“I got it.” Gavin screamed, some time later.

Meg jumped. She had come a long time ago and had started to doze off. Blinking, she scowled at Gavin. “What now?”

“A name. I have a got the name of the person who took Burnie’s money.” Gavin exclaimed. He stopped for a moment, thinking. “Or, at least an aliases of theirs.”

“Great, I’m happy for you.” Meg grumbled, burrowing herself deeper into the covers. “No go the fuck to sleep?”

“Ah, Meg, you’re not mad are you?” Gavin asked as he sent the name off to Burnie.

“You’re sleeping on that side of the bed.” Meg ordered, moving away from him.

“Turney, no.” Gavin pouted.

“You want me to kick you off the bed completely?” Meg threatened.

“Turney!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Criticisms Welcomed! Come talk to me at my tumblr-GanglyLimbs


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Their regular informants weren’t working out. Mariel was lying to them and, either everyone else was  too or no one knew a damn thing about the Backers. And it was too late to go back and ask if they had noticed if Risinger was doing anything. Too suspicious.

Which left Gavin where he was now, walking down alleys. Druggies were always a dangerous way to get information. When bribing them with money, they might be more willing to reveal whatever information they have. Or they’ll be more willing to lie. Good thing Gavin had experience in how to get exactly what he wanted.

Gavin kept his body relaxed and footsteps light as he walked past a few hobos sleeping. A head peaked out from behind a nearby dumpster before ducking back. Gavin grinned. Bingo.

Slowing down, Gavin came to a complete stop by the dumpster and turned to face the man cowering before him. “What do you want?” The man spat, scratching at his arms.

“You look like you’re in need of a fix.” Gavin said, eyes racking over the man. His clothes were ratty and the man’s eyes were sunken into his face. Where the man scratched, Gavin noticed that there were black dots up his arm.

“I’m no addict.” The man denied.

“And I’m no cop.” Gavin smoothly replied.

The man looked Gavin up and down. “No, you’re not. Too nicely dressed.” He was mumbling now, going off about how cops didn’t know how to dress or act.

“Thank you.” Gavin said, to grab the guy’s attention again. The Brit pulled at his dress shirt, looking down at his polished shoes.

The man’s shrew eyes were back on him. “But you’re also no addict. And I have no drugs on me.”

“No. You certainly don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t need this.” Gavin pulled out a wad of cash, bending down to wave it in his face. The addict’s eyes followed the cash. Gavin hid his smirk. “You’re also correct in that I’m not an addict. I’m just a man looking for some answers.”

The addict licked his lips. “What kind of answers?”

“First. We can’t have a conversation without introducing each other, can we? Hello, I’m Gavin.”

“…Joe.” The addict said. The slight hesitation and the way his eyes darted away gave away the lie.

“Well, Joe. I’m a man who has too much money, as you can see.” Gavin gestured down at his clothes. “And I’m willing to part with some extra change I have. But I need you to be honest with me, Joe. You think you can be honest with me?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be real honest.” Joe eagerly nodded, fingers twitching towards Gavin’s money.

“Good, good. Because I’d hate to have to use this,” Gavin pulled out his gun and pressed it under Joe’s chin, shoving the man back against the wall. “And ruin my pretty clothes.”

“What the fuck, man?” Joe exclaimed, eyes wide. He was already starting to shake.

Gavin’s smile was wide and toothy. “I need answers, Joe. I can’t have you lying to me. As long as you don’t lie, I don’t come back and blow your head off. Ok?”

Joe swallowed. “Y-Yeah. Yeah, I get it. What answers do you want?”

Gavin pulled his gun away, lifting it in the air. “Good. As long as we’re on the same page. Now, easy question. Tell me about the gangs around here.”

“W-What do you want to know?”

“Any restlessness? Any rumors about a new gang moving in on their territory? Drugs being stolen, weapons being moved? That sort of thing.”

“Umm, umm. Yeah? I think?”

Gavin brought the gun down in front of Joe’s face. “You think?”

“I know. I know.” Joe scrambled. “The Reds and the Blues are always fighting, constantly gaining and losing territory to each other. That’s nothing unusual. A lot of gangs fight for territory here, but they’re the biggest ones. Their fights get pretty bloody. But lately, there’s been nothing but silence.”

Gavin frowned, moving the gun away again. “Really? How long?”

Joe shrugged. “I-I don’t know? A couple of months? They’re not even pushing drugs as hard as they used to. Cops must be fucking relieved.”

“What caused this sudden silence?” Gavin asked.

“Not sure. Last I heard there was a fight between them downtown at a bar. Nothing that special about it besides the fact that the bar was burnt down. A few guys from both sides died but who cares, they’re always dying. And then silence.”

Gavin rocked back on his heels. “You know the name of this bar?”

“Why? Can’t go to it. It’s gone.”

Gavin barely twitched the gun before Joe was backtracking. “Louie’s! It was named Louie’s.”

Gavin stood up, pocketing his gun. “Thank you, Joe. You’ve been very helpful.” He offered the money to Joe.

Joe hesitantly went to grab the money. When his hand made contact with the bills, Gavin grabbed his wrist with his other hand, putting pressure on the fragile bones. Joe cried out. Gavin bent down at the waist to look Joe in the eye. “You don’t remember me, Joe. I was never here. I catch wind you’re talking about me, I come back for you. If you lied, an any way or form, to me, I come back to kill you. You understand?”

Joe quickly nodded, tears welling up at the corner of his eyes. Gavin let him go. Walking back down the alley, taking note of the still sleeping bums, Gavin gave Joe a friendly wave goodbye. “Thanks a bunch, Joe!”

Turning the corner, Gavin pulled out his phone and texted Dan about the bar, since he was down that way anyways. Hopefully he could get some information from around there. Gavin sent another text to Meg to let her know what was going on. Pocketing his phone, Gavin stuffed his hands in his pocket. He blended in with the other New Yorkers trying to get to where they were going. As if he hadn’t just threatened a man. He followed the crowd, ignoring the vendors shouting out their wares and the honking of cars and taxis passing by him. Occasionally, Gavin would look at stores, admiring the clothes and electronics they sold. There was one restaurant Gavin saw that he considered taking Meg to.

Whistling, Gavin slipped into another alleyway, following the twists and turns of the buildings. He rounded a corner before stopping and waiting. The two girls following him were close behind, stopping short when they ran almost face first into Gavin’s gun.

“Hello, ladies.” Gavin smiled, noticing the way their hands twitched towards their waist. Both had weapons then. He backed them up against the wall. “Show me your guns.”

“You can’t shoot us both.” The shorter woman challenged. Her hair was short and dyed a hot pink. The other one, the taller one, had long blonde hair, her brown eyes darting down to her partner.

“You don’t think so?” Gavin asked, tilting his head. “Maybe. Maybe I shoot you both. Maybe I shoot one of you and the other is able to put a bullet in me. Then maybe my boss comes down and burns your city for revenge.” Their eyes widened at that. “Good, so you do know me and who my crew is. Which begs the question; why are you following me?”

The two looked at each other. Gavin cocked his gun. “Why are you here?” The pink-haired girl shot back.

Gavin sighed. “Why does everyone want to know that? What’s it to you?”

“It matters when Ramsey is trying to move on our turf.” She argued. The other woman grabbed her arm in warning.

“Oh trust me,” Gavin purred, honey in his voice. “If we were moving in on your turf, you wouldn’t have heard about it till Ramsey’s gun was pressed against your head.”

The girl snarled at him. The other’s eyes narrowed. “What does Ramsey want, then?”

“None of your business.” Gavin retorted. Their mouths formed into lines. “Which gang do you belong to?”

“None of your business.” They both replied, smirks forming on their faces.

Gavin snorted. He took his finger off the trigger, flipping his gun so it no longer pointed at them. “We’re not going to get anywhere like that. So how about this, I’m here because of a dispute that’s been bothering my boss.”

“Yeah?” The blonde one asked, raising an eyebrow. Her eyes kept glancing at Gavin’s gun.

“What’s this I hear that the Reds and the Blues have been silent recently?” Gavin asked.

Their eyes widened, the slightest bit. Pink-hair jerked while blonde went completely still. Gavin kept his face blank, watching everything. “Why would that matter to Ramsey?” Blonde asked, very carefully.

Gavin gave her a long look. Then he shrugged. “You’re right. Ramsey couldn’t give a shit. I, on the other hand, find that information very interesting. So tell me about it. There was a fight and suddenly they go underground?”

“What do you know about them?” The pink hair one snarled, stepping forward.

“Julie.” The blonde one growled, pushing her back. Ignoring the way Julie glared at her, the blonde hair girl looked back at Gavin. “It isn’t unusual for gangs to fight and then take time to lick their wounds.”

Gavin didn’t look at her. Just kept looking at Julie. “Strange. They aren’t ones known for being cowards.”

“Fucker, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Julie snapped again, ignoring her partner’s warnings. She stalked up to Gavin, getting in his face. “The Blues never cower. We’re fucking fighters and we certainly aren’t scared of the likes of the Reds or of you.”

“And yet, here I am. Hearing about how you Blues have gone underground. You stopped selling, you stopped running guns.” Gavin stepped even closer to Julie, staring down at her. He pointed his gun at the blonde when she made a move for her own weapon. “What, the Reds suddenly have your tails between your legs?”

“No way. Those fucknuts are fucking losers. We were winning that fight til-“

“Julie!” The blonde girl yelled.

“What, Emily?” Julie yelled back, turning towards Emily.

“Yeah. What Emily?” Gavin grinned at her, pointing his gun towards Julie’s head. Julie tensed as soon as she felt the barrel pressing against her head.  

Emily looked between them before sighing. “A couple months ago, there was a fight at one of our main bars. A couple Red goons came in and were making trouble. It turned into a fist fight fast.”

“And then?” Gavin asked. Julie was angrily looking down at her hands.

“And then…someone…came in and began shooting people. A couple of our guys, a couple of the Red guys. Told us to tell our boss that they have something more important to worry about and if they wanted to talk about it, to meet them at a warehouse at New York Harbor.”

And?” Gavin prompted, sensing there was more to the story.

“And,” Emily gritted her teeth. “Our boss sent some down to check it out. Only one came back, told our boss what happened. We were told to keep our heads down until the boss could work it out.”

“The boss didn’t tell you what happened?” Gavin questioned.

“No. Only to stay away from the south side.”

Gavin hummed. “Interesting.”

“Satisfied yet?” Julie asked, inching away from the gun.

“Almost.” Gavin pressed the gun harder against her head. He stared Emily down. “One more thing. My partner, I’m sure you heard of her, the lovely Meg Turney, was attacked the other day. You know anything about that?”

Emily shook her head, frowning. “No, nothing. Our boss knows not to touch you.”

“But stalking is apparently ok.” Gavin said. Keeping his gun level with the two of them, Gavin started to back away. Emily watched him go, Julie not daring to turn around. “Tell your boss that we’re willing to overlook this whole thing as long as he stays out of Fake business.”

“That’s so nice of you.” Julie grouched. “So what? We just sit still, twittering our thumbs as you run around our turf, threatening our people?”

“To be fair, you threatened me first. And yeah. That’s exactly what I expect you to do. I’m sure your boss will see it our way. If not,” Gavin shrugged. “I could always go and talk to directly to them. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

The two of them glowered at him till he disappeared, once again, into the crowd. He had a lot to tell Meg. And Geoff. Shit, Geoff wasn’t going to be happy about this.

~

“Geoff, your overreacting.” Gavin said, as calmly as he could. As soon as he got back to his hotel room, he had gotten a call for Geoff, wanting some more clarification on what they had discussed the previous night. In hindsight, maybe Gavin should have left out the part where he pulled a gun on someone.

“Overreacting?” Geoff shouted. Gavin lifted the phone away from his ear, wincing at how loud Geoff could be. “You’re fucking telling me I’m overreacting? What happened to the part where we don’t want to start a gang war, huh?”

“I want it to be known that they made the first contact.” Gavin said.

Geoff let out a hard sigh. “That’s not the point. You’re not over there to threaten other gangs. All I wanted was for you two to bring back information. How was that so hard to understand?”

“We are bringing back information.” Gavin argued. He looked up when Meg and Dan entered the room.

Geoff’s voice was getting high as he continued to yell. “What you’re doing is creating a political mess-“

“What we’re doing is our job.” Gavin cut in. “What would you have me do, Geoff? Let them follow me?” Meg and Dan shared looks at that.

“Yes!”

“Geoff, you’re being absolutely ridicules now. Since when do ever allow other gangs to follow us? You know, because they tend to interfere with our business?” Gavin was yelling now too.

Gavin could hear Geoff’s teeth grinding. “You know I’m right.” Gavin continued. “So, what’s the actual problem, huh?”

There was a long pause before Geoff said, in a low voice. “I told you that all I wanted was some clarification that the Backers were alive. I told you to stay away from them. Now, here you are, throwing yourself face first into a battle you don’t even understand. How am I supposed to feel about that?”

“Except, we haven’t seen any of the Backers since we got here.”

“You’re disobeying my order.”

“No, we’re not. We’re doing exactly what you wanted.”

“And this thing with Risinger?”

That caused Gavin to pause. “We’re still doing what you asked, seeing if Risinger is connected with the Backers.”

“Bullshit.” Geoff spat. “You’re going on your off again, just like I knew you two would.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gavin asked, taken aback.

“Whenever I send you two off on missions, you always try and do your own thing, with no heed for the plan.”

“What about Ryan?” Gavin asked, fingers turning white with how hard he was clenching his phone. “He doesn’t follow plans either.”

“But Ryan knows when he should. Meg and you have no impulse control. I knew I shouldn’t have sent you alone.” Geoff mumbled. Gavin gritted his teeth. “I should have sent Michael or Lindsay, someone to keep you on your leash.”

“You know what, Geoff?” Gavin asked, voice cold. “Fuck you.” Not waiting for Geoff’s reply, Gavin ended the call, throwing his phone at the bed.

“Gavin, what’s wrong?” Meg asked, a bit hesitant. “What did Geoff say?”

Gaivn was pacing, trying to work out his anger. “Just that, apparently, we’re not good at our job. That he should have sent Michael or Lindsay to ‘keep us on our leash’.”

“What the fuck?” Meg said. “He really said that?” Even Dan looked disgusted by the comment.

“Yeah, he really fucking did.” Gavin shook his head. His stomach was twisting, something cold settling in as Geoff’s words rang around his head. “I can’t believe he said that.”

“Man, what’s been up his ass lately?” Meg questioned. “He’s been stressed about this whole thing since the beginning.”

“This Backer thing really has him worried, huh?” Dan added. “I haven’t seen him this way in a long time.”

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get this whole thing over with.” Gavin turned towards them. “What’d you find out?”

Dan shrugged. “Not much. Meg, on the other hand…”

Meg gave him a smirk. “I have something I think is going to make you a very happy man.”

Gavin raised an eyebrow, giving a small smile back. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I went down to that warehouse you told me about. Took me forever to find, by the way. When I got there, no one seemed to know what I was talking about.”

“This doesn’t exactly sound like good news.” Gavin teased.

“What for it.” Meg reprimanded him. “No one knew what I was talking about till I started waving a few hundred dollar bills around.”

“I bet that got them talking.”

“Oh yeah. This young looking guy told me they were paid to stay away from a certain warehouse, around the same time the Reds and Blues went silent. This guy told me that he saw a bunch of people enter the building but he didn’t really see anyone leave.”

“That Emily girl told me only one of their people returned.” Gavin supplied.

Meg nodded. “Like they were paid to do, no one went near it, so he didn’t hear anything. But he did say that the first ones to enter were a group of three guys and a girl with gang colors he hadn’t seen before.”

“So our mystery gang, then.”

Meg nodded, eyes excited. “And, get this. This is the exciting part. The warehouse they entered, you know who owned it?” Gavin smiled along with her, getting where this was going.

“Risinger.” They all said at the same time.

“Ok, this is exactly what we need.” Gavin said, pacing again. Although this time, it was for a much happier reason. “Now, what do we do with this info?”

“So, Risinger is definitely supporting a new crew, that’s for sure. He has to have something connecting him to them.” Dan said. “Either a paper trail or files. He would need files to keep track of his supplies, right?”

“If he’s anything like Geoff, than yeah.” Gavin’s face darkened for a second at the mention of the boss’s name. He quickly shook those thoughts away, concentrating on the task at hand. “So, he must have something either at his office or at his house.”

“You know what this means, right?” Meg asked, smirking.

Dan sighed. “Please don’t tell me.”

“We’re going to have to break in.” Gavin said, smirking back.

Dan rubbed a hand down his face. “Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments And Criticisms Welcomed! Come talk to me at my tumblr-Ganglylimbs


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little warning, there's some description of a wound being treated. As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter. We're getting close to the end!

To be honest, Gavin should have expected that Risinger’s office building would be massive. It soared above the others, one of the tallest, and Risinger owned the whole building. Though he rented out the bottom offices, he did most of his business on the top floor. The studio. It was going to be Meg’s and Gavin’s job to get in, get up there, and find any information on what gang Risinger was funding.

Tonight was the last night for Fashion Week. Wanting to leave with a big bang, the coordinators planned all the big names today. And the one of the last to go was Jon Risinger, unrevealing his new line. Which made tonight the perfect night to rob him.

Meg and Gavin stood in an alley, a few blocks down from Risinger’s building. They looked at each other before putting their comms in. “Testing, testing, 1 2 3. Can you hear me?”

“Hear you loud and clear.” Dan replied, voice crackling over the comms. “Remind me, why am I the only one hitting Risinger’s apartment?”

“Because according to his neighbors, Risinger spends more time at his office than at his apartment. Which means that the two more experienced criminals should hit that.” Meg replied, stepping out of the alley. Gavin stayed where he was as she started walking.

“I guess that makes sense.” Dan grumbled back. The two of them heard a door closing. “I want to you two to know. I’m against this.”

“Noted.” Meg said, rolling her eyes at Gavin.

“Good. Ok then.” They heard Dan take a deep breath. “You ready for this?”

“Always.”

“Be careful, B.” Gavin added.

Dan’s line went silent. Gavin stepped out of alley, keeping  a close eye on Meg as she neared Risinger’s building. As soon as she walked up to the door, knocking, Gavin leaned against the building he was closest too. Over the comm, Gavin heard Meg beckoning to the security guard inside.

“Hello sir, I was hoping you could help me? I’m looking for Edith Avenue and I seem to be lost.” Meg’s voice was pure honey, smoothly flowing over Gavin’s ears. With her voice and the short, revealing black dress that cut low over Meg’s breasts, the guard stood no chance. He invited her in.

Gavin waited five minutes before he continued walking. He heard Meg and the guard chatting as he also neared the building. Looking through the glass doors, Gavin noted that the guard and Meg were back at the guard’s desk, looking at his computer. Or Meg was. The guard was more focused on side-eyeing her breasts.

Meg looked up, winking at Gavin, before her right hand disappeared into the little purse she brought and pulled out a needle. Using her left hand, Meg pointed at the screen, waiting for the guard to lean forward, before applying the needle to his neck. As soon as the guard was injected, the needle disappeared back into the purse again.  

Gavin looked at his watch. Five minutes at the most. Opening the door, thanks to the sticker Meg placed over the lock, Gavin walked in as quietly as he could and made his way to the elevator. The guard didn’t notice Gavin till the bell _dinged_ , announcing that the elevator was on it’s way.

“Hey!” The guard shouted, standing up. “What are you doing here?”

“Cutting it a little close, aren’t you?” Meg asked, ignoring the guard now as she walked towards Gavin. The guard looked at her bewildered.

“My program only shuts down the cameras for so long.” Gavin replied.

“Wh-hey.” The guard pulled his gun. Gavin nodded at him, at the way his hands were shaking.

“Besides,” Gavin told Meg. “It won’t be long.”

“Put your hands up now.” The guard shouted. Sweat was starting to bead along his forehead and he was blinking rapidly.

“Sorry, we have a job to do.” Meg told him, not bothering to face him. “No hard feelings, though?”

“I…I will sh-shoot.” The guard huffed. His gun dropped out of his hand and the guard bent over, hands on his knees. “I-I…”

There was thud as his body dropped to the floor. The elevator doors opened and Gavin and Meg stepped in. “So, how long are the cameras down again?” Meg asked, reaching under her dress to pull out the gun she had hidden there on her thigh holster.

Gavin pulled out his own gun. He checked to make sure it was fully loaded. “We have thirty minutes.”

Meg snorted. “What? You think we need the extra time?”

“Well, it has been a while since you did one of these.” Gavin teased, giving her a wink.

“Oh, it’s on, baby.” Meg clocked her gun.

Gavin mirror her with his own gun. “You turning this into a competition?”

“You know I am. First one to find the information, wins.”

“Deal.” The elevator doors opened and the two of them sprung forward. With everyone gone to support Risinger in his show, most of the offices were dark and empty. There were guards hanging around, though, so the two of them moved carefully. They checked each office, switching between who would go in and who watched the hallway.

Finally, they reached the back, which was a wide open space where the clothes were created. In the very back, cut off from the rest, was Risinger’s work space. Checking once more that there was no one nearby, the two of them lowered their guns. Gavin went for Risinger’s computer. Meg went through his drawers. It was a tense couple of minutes as they furiously worked to uncover Risinger’s secrets.

“Ah-ha!” Gavin squealed.

“No.” Meg slammed her fist against the desk.

Gavin grinned. “I’ve got emails.”

Meg pouted. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

“Boss, the assignment you wanted has been accomplished. Shipments being sent to you.” Gavin read out. 

“That could mean anything.” Meg argued. They knew what it meant though. They’ve sent similar emails.

“Jon, the customer isn’t willing to pay. What should I do?” Gavin continued. “Cole, deal with it. You know how.”

“Shit.” Meg cursed.

Gavin stuck his tongue out before downloading copies of all of Risinger’s emails. Meg continued to search through the files. Eventually, she hummed, pulling out a folder. “Interesting.”

Gavin looked over at her. “You have something?”

“I think so.” Her fingers shifted through the papers, eyes quickly scanning over the contents. Her mouth pulled down into a frown. “This is weird.”

“What?” Gavin came over to read over her shoulder. He also frowned. “It’s a list of locations.”

“Spread out over the country.” Meg agreed. “A lot of these towns aren’t that big though and the locations are wide spread.”

“Maybe he’s seeking out places for safe houses?” Gavin ventured. “Places to store weapons and drugs?”

“Maybe.” Meg flipped to the next page. Her hand slapped back against Gavin’s chest. He let out an oof.

“What was that for?” Gavin cried out, rubbing the sore area.

“Shut up. Look.” Meg pointed to one of the locations. 

“What?” Gavin read it. Then read it again. Waldo Alley, California? “Wait, isn’t that where-“

“Where the Kinda Funny guys had us stay that one time we visited them? Yeah. I remember because Jeremy kept making where’s Waldo jokes the entire time we were there.”

“How does Risinger have the location of one of their buildings?” Gavin asked. He pointed at another location “That’s a Funhaus warehouse.”

“And one for ScrewAttack.” Meg said.

The two of them shared a look before quickly looking through the rest of the papers. Other locations popped up at them, other bases their allies used that they knew of. It was the last page where they spotted what they feared for. The location of one of their safe houses. One for where they occasionally kept their vehicles. One warehouse in particular that was frightening as they just used it two months ago.   

Gavin let out his breath. “Shit.”

“Double shit.” Meg said. “I’m going to copy these. I have a feeling a lot of them are the locations of buildings other gangs own.”

“How’d he get these?” Gavin wondered.

“I think the more important question is, why does he need them?” Meg replied. They shared another look before Meg left to copy the papers and Gavin went back to Risinger’s computer. His mind raced. No matter who Risinger was backing, the only reason to have locations of a gang’s safe or warehouse was so you could burn it to the ground. To have that many locations?

Risinger was planning a war.

The good news was that he only had a few of the Fake’s locations, and they were ones they had been planning to get rid of anyways. And, though they had only quickly scanned through it, he hadn’t seen any of the Rooster Teeth locations on there. Of course he didn’t actually know all of their locations. They would need to send a copy to Burnie.

 The ding of the elevator shook Gavin out of his thoughts and he dropped to the floor. Peeking around the desk, Gavin saw that a guard was slowly making his way down the hallway, gun and flashlight in hand. The guard they dropped downstairs must have been found. Gavin tapped his comm. “Incoming enemy.” He whispered. “He’s armed.”

“Got it.” Meg whispered back.

Gavin slipped back behind the desk, hands clenching his weapon. He had no doubt that the guard would be making his way back towards him, the light from Risinger’s computer shinning like a beacon. Making himself as small as possible, Gavin held his breath, listening to the soft sound of the guard’s footsteps.

“I know your back there.” The guard called out, voice only slightly shaking. Gavin held his positon. “I’m going to count to three. On three, if you’re not out with your hands behind your head, I’m going to start shooting.” 

“One.”

Gavin let out a soft sigh.

“Two.”

He slowly switched positions so he was on one knee, gun more comfortable in hand.

“Three.”

Gavin jumped up. A shot rang out. The guard stood on the other side of the desk, eyes wide. Slowly, he fell to the ground.

“You ok?” Meg asked, moving out of her cover. She lowered her gun and ignore the guard she just shot, stepping over his body so she could check on Gavin.

“Yeah.” Gavin dismissed. He grabbed his flash drive, quickly stuffing it in his pocket as he shut down the computer. “We should go. Someone’s bound to hear that shot and the cameras won’t be down for much longer. You have a copy of the locations?”

“Of course.” Meg held up her copy, before stuffing the originals back into the file cabinet she got them from. Walking back, she grabbed Gavin’s hand and started pulling him towards the exit. “Why don’t we take the stairs?”

“Good idea.” They slammed the stairway door open, rushing to descend down.

Meg suddenly stopped, a few flights down, pulling Gavin to a halt. “You hear that?”

Gavin strained his ears. Below them, he could hear the stomping of more feet and the faints sound of shouting. “Let’s go back-“

_Crash._

The door above them slammed open. There was more shouting, more trampling of feet coming for them.

“Shit.” Gavin cursed. “We’re trapped.”

Meg squeezed his hand before she started running forward again, dragging him behind. “The only thing we can do is keep moving.”

“And when we run into the other guards rushing up to meet us?”

“We deal with that when we come to it.” Meg said through gritted teeth. They ran forward, accurately aware of the noise around them.

“There they are!” Someone shouted.

“What now?” Gavin asked. They never stopped running, even though they could start to see the faces of the guards.

Meg reached into her purse and pulled out a small ball. Gavin’s eyes widened, recognizing Michael’s homemade smokeball. Meg looked back at him. “Don’t let go of my hand.”

Before Gavin could answer, she threw the smoke ball over the rail, hitting a few flights below them, where the guards had reached. The hand Gavin was using to hold Meg’s tightened. He held his breath, closed his eyes, and prepared. The clash into the smoke shocked a gasp from him and he started coughing. They were tramping over bodies, limbs reaching up to grab at his pants legs. Gavin tugged and jammed his way through, never once letting go of Meg’s hand as they fought. The guards who waited on the other end couldn’t shot, too afraid to hit their partners. Meg had no such fear. Gavin could hear her gun going off, the yells of shock, and then they were free.

Blinking the smoke from his eyes, he lifted up his gun, firing behind him. The grunts and cries of pain let him know he hit a few of them. Meg pushed down the last guard and then they were sprinting. Gavin flinched when a shot went off, close to his head, the sound of it bouncing off the metal railing piercing to his ears.  

They kept moving.

Eventually, with sweat covering their bodies and hearts hammering, they reached the bottom. Throwing open the door, they tore through the lobby, ignoring the cries of surprise from the few people there. Shots were going off. Gavin let loose a shout when his arm exploded with pain, but forced himself to ignore it, instead firing back at them.

They reached the streets and disappeared.

~

Having snagged a coat from a drunkard stumbling along the sidewalk , Gavin was able to hide his bleeding arm. He kept the grimace of pain off his face for the entire elevator ride back up to their room, Meg whispering encouraging words to him whenever they were left alone.

As soon as Meg shut the door to their room, Gavin threw down the coat and cursed, finally looking at his arm. The wound was near his shoulder, the fabric around it soaked in red.

“Take off your shirt so I can get a better look at it.” Meg commanded, already gathering supplies.

With a lot of effort, Gavin was able to unbutton his shirt, flopping back down on the bed as soon as it was off. “That was an adventure.” He grunted.

Meg pulled up a chair and grabbed the tweezers. “Yep.”

Gavin looked away, wincing as Meg began to dig around the skin. “What do you think- _ah_ -think Risinger is planning?”

“Something big.” Meg replied. “Big enough that he has plans for multiple gangs. There are several questions we need the answers to if we want to find out what.”

“OK, so what are the questions?” Gavin asked, arm jerking as Meg hit a nerve.

“Sorry.” Meg mumbled, the tweezers noticeably more gentle with that area. “So. First question. How’d he get those locations?”

“Either bribes from more disloyal members or- _ouch_ -or he not only has the numbers to send spies into other crews, but they must- _shit_ \- be some pretty good spies if they were able to fool Funhaus.” Gavin answered.

“I’m kind of hoping it was bribes. The second option is a pretty terrifying one.” Meg let out a soft ‘ _ah-ha’_ when she finally grabbed the bullet. Pulling it free, she set it down, along with the tweezers, on a towel nearby. Next, she grabbed antiseptic and began cleaning the wound. Gavin jumped at the stinging sensation and Meg lightly smacked his leg. “Oh, quit being a baby.”

“T-The next question?” Gavin prompted, whimpering slightly.

“Oh, right. So next question is why did he choose those locations? Why those gangs? It can’t be a coincidence that a lot of them belong to our allies.” Meg continued, eyes narrowed as she wiped Gavin’s blood away.

“Definitely not a coincidence.” Gavin agreed before sucking in a lungful of air. Letting it out, he tried relaxing again. “Which is another thing to worry about. Not many know that we have an alliance. People could guess about Funhaus and I’ve heard rumors about us and ScrewAttack, but there’s no way anyone could have made the connection to Kinda Funny or Cow Chop.”

Meg shook her head. “I think we underestimated Risinger. If he can get that information…”

“Then what else has he been able to get?” Gavin finished. “It all comes down to why, doesn’t it?”

Meg set down the wipe and picked up the bandages. “We’ll figure it out when get back to Los Santos. At the very least, we can warn the others. Speaking off,” Meg looked up, frowning. “Have you heard anything from Dan?”

“Oh, shit. No I haven’t.” Trying hard not to disturb Meg’s work, Gavin reached towards the table next to the bed for his comm. Placing it in his hear, he called for Dan. “Dan? Dan? Are you there? Can you hear us?”

Silence.

Gavin took out the earpiece. “Hmm, I guess he must of taken it off. Probably got tired of us not answering him.”

“Hopefully he sends a text soon. I don’t want to worry about two British idiots who managed to get themselves shot.” Meg teased.

“Hey.” Gavin squawked. “It’s not my fault that I got hit.”

“Sure, sure.” Meg tighten the last of the bandages. Patting his knee, she stood up and stretched. “Well, that’s enough blood for me for one night.”

“The nights still young.” Gavin said, giving her a wink.

“Don’t tempt me.” Meg grumbled. “I’m going to try to track down all these locations, solidify our suspicions a little more before we send it to Geoff.”

“I’ll look over his emails.” Gavin got up to retrieve his computer, trying hard not to pull the muscles in his arm. “I can’t wait till we get back to Los Santos so I can rub these into Geoff’s nose.”

Meg shook her head. “You’re not going to get over that anytime soon, are you?”

“Nope.” Gavin agreed cheerfully. Meg let it go, knowing how the Brit could get. The two set to work in silence. Every once in a while, Gavin would check his phone, nagging worry starting to settle in the longer they went without Dan checking in.

Risninger’s email was a combination between fashion work and his illegal dealings. One email would be telling whoever his crew was that he wanted his “supplies” soon and the next would be outlining an idea he had for a dress. Because of the mix, it took Gavin longer than it should have to latch onto the pattern.

As far as Gavin could tell, the emails went to three different people. There was someone named Cole, who seemed to be a grunt. An important one, but a grunt all the same, the one to do the dirty and demeaning work. Then there was a girl, Risinger refering to her as Emily, but Gavin isn’t sure that’s her real name, as there are jokes peppered throughout his emails that suggests she has another name.

Then there’s Sportsball. At first Gavin had thought the emails titled with that were part of the fashion related ones, and so had pushed them to the side. But after accidently reading a few, Gavin was beginning to be convinced otherwise. Either Sportsball was an event that Risinger was planning, one to make his underground debut or Sportsball was a person that, for some reason, Risinger only felt comfortable speaking about when using code.  

Gavin was so focused on that that he almost missed when there was a break in the pattern. A fourth person Risinger began connecting. Again, Gavin almost ignored them, wanting to determine what exactly Sportsball was. That was unto he noticed who it was addressed to.

Gavin sat up straighter, ignoring the warning his arm gave. The emails were addressed to Larry Bakwin. As in Larry Bakwin who was shot about a week ago. The Larry who was stealing from Burnie.

“Fuck, fuck. These isn’t good. Fuck.” Gavin cursed.

“What’s wrong?” Meg asked, looking up from her own laptop.

“It’s Larry. Larry’s the connection.” Gavin exclaimed.

“Larry?” Meg asked, furrowing her eyebrows. “Who’s that?”

“The Larry who was stealing from Burnie. That Larry.” Gavin was almost jumping around, pulling out his hair. “That’s how it’s connected.”

“Gavin, Gavin.” Meg called, walking over to hold him back him down. “Stop moving, you’re going to upset your wound.”

“Risinger was contacting Larry. That’s why it seemed so weird that Larry could be so smart yet stupid at the same time. That’s the connection.”

“Wait, wait. Gavin you have to back up.” Meg was finally able to push Gavin back down. She checked his bandages. “Start from the beginning. What’s this about Larry?”

“Risinger was contacting Larry.” Gavin began.

“ _Larry_ , Larry?” Meg asked.

Gavin furiously nodded his head. “Yes!”

Meg rocked back on her heels. “Well, fuck.”

“Exactly. I had the thought that Larry was a sort of Trojan Horse, that there was someone else. And I was half right. Risinger is that someone else, but he was only pulling Larry’s strings from afar. That’s why it was so hard to find what Larry had done with the money.”

“We need to let Geoff and Burnie know right away. There could be more spies and who knows what Larry was giving Risinger-“

Gavin’s phone rang.

Gavin checked the name, grinning as soon as he read the bold text of _Dan_. The worry that had been building disappeared as Gavin set the phone against his ear. “Hey, B! What took you so long?  


“Why hello, Mr. Free.”

Gavin’s blood ran cold as the smooth voice of bloody Jon Risinger answered him. Meg noticed the shift in his face. “What’s wrong?” She was already starting to stand, preparing herself.

“Risinger, what a pleasure it is to hear you again.” Gavin’s voice was low, a growl starting to rise in the back of his throat. Meg froze too, understanding dawning on her.

Risinger laughed. “Oh I’m sure it is. You have no idea how _delighted_ I am that you picked up. You see, I was so hurt to hear that you didn’t come to show. After all, I thought the entire reason you and Ms. Turney had come was to see little old me, after all.” Gavin’s teeth were grinding together, everything in him wanting to snap back at the smug prick. “And then I get the bad news that my office had been hit by some thieving rats. Obviously, my night wasn’t going the way I wanted and after all my hard work too, especially when I get the call that another rat was captured at my apartment.”

“Here’s where my night starts to get better. Because imagine my surprise when the rat turns out to be _your_ bodyguard.” Risinger tutted. “I expected better from people hanging out with you.”

“What’d you do to Dan?” Gavin asked, all pretense of manners gone. Meg was moving around the room, gathering their weapons and supplies.

“So that’s his name? Funny, he didn’t want to give us it.” Risinger went on. “I’m guessing he means something to you?”

Silence from Gavin.

“Excellent.” Risinger purred. “So here’s the deal. I know it was you two who hit my office. I don’t know why, but I propose we make a deal. Meet me at my warehouse, the one down at the docks, at 2am. I’m sure you know which one it is.” Risinger hung up.

Gavin stood up. Meg handed him a clean shirt, which he silently put on, ignoring the pain in his arm. Walking by, Gavin grabbed his gun and all the ammo for it. Meg stood by the door, her face stony. Gavin could see the knife in her hand  as she played with it. “Where are we going?”

“To the docks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments And Criticisms Are Welcomed. Come talk to me on my tumblr-GanglyLimbs


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is kind of the last chapter, since the actual one is more of a set up for the next story. As such, I'll post the actual last chapter tomorrow since it's not really long enough to justify waiting a week. Once again, there's a flash back in this chapter. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! As always I hope you enjoy!

The docks were silent, the warehouse grounds empty, besides the occasional security guard walking around. It wasn’t hard to pay them to turn a turn a blind eye as Gavin and Meg made their way towards Risinger’s warehouse. Meg shifted her bag higher up her shoulder and sent a message from her phone.

Risinger’s warehouse was empty looking, a lone light shining down on the entrance door. They shared a look before drawing their guns and making their way towards the side entrance. The door opened with a loud creek. Even inside, the warehouse was big and lonely feeling. Their footsteps echoed off the concrete ground as they slinked around the boxes inside. They had no hope that Risinger wouldn’t hear them coming, not that they were going for stealth in the first place. They couldn’t do anything without making sure that Dan was alive beforehand.

They found him in the center of the warehouse, another light shining down on him like a beacon. Gavin gritted his teeth at the taunting manor, then squeezed his gun harder at the sound of clapping above them.

“Gavin Free and Meg Turney. Lead negotiators of the Fake AH Crew.” Risinger’s voice was mocking as it echoed, the man himself leaning against the railing above Dan. Two men, Risinger’s bodyguards stepped out of the shadows, guns in hand to step up besides Dan. Dan himself didn’t twitch. Gavin could see more bodies hiding in the shadows.

“Is he alive?” Gavin asked, ignoring the way Risinger was smirking down at them.

“Of course.” Risinger snapped his fingers, prompting one of the guards (Gibson, Gavin recognized from his profile. He made sure to sketch the man’s features in his mind. He would not live) to step forward to punch his gun against Dan’s stomach. Dan hunched forward, grunting, before looking up at the two of them. Tears were in his eyes. 

Gavin let himself breathe a little. At least Dan was alive. That the first step.

“What? Do I not get a thanks for keeping him alive? I shouldn’t have, not after all the trouble you caused me.” Risinger continued in that same smug manner.

“So why did you?” Gavin asked, keeping a tight grip on his gun and not taking his eyes off the guards before him.

“Because I’m nice like that.”

“Bullshit.” Meg cursed.

“Ok, you got me.” Gavin flicked his eyes up to catch Risinger shrugging. “If I had killed him, though, I wouldn’t have something to trade you.”

“And what exactly are we trading?” Meg asked.

“Your man. For information.” Risinger said. “You see, you Fakes think you’re so smart. You think you can make your little group and make these little alliances without anyone noticing. Well _I_ noticed. So here’s the deal. I want information on everything, from which groups are in your alliance to what your supplying them with. You give me the names of everyone involved, down to every last grunt, and which suppliers your using. I want everything.”

“And you think we’ll give you all of that for one man?” Gavin asked. His heart was starting to pump. They couldn’t give the names, but Gavin would not leave here without Dan

Risinger’s smirk widened, leaning back down on the railing. “No. But I’m willing to bet you will with your lives as part of the trade.”

“Drop your guns to the ground and put your hands in the air.”

Gavin wasn’t really surprised at the sound of someone commanding them from behind. It was who it was that made Gavin tense. He didn’t dare look at Meg.

Mariel and another guy (who Gavin recognized as the person who had tried to tail them during their first day here) walked in front of them, holding guns up. Behind them, more guards started to rise, with their own weapons. “Gun on the ground and hands in the air.” Mariel repeated. The other guy’s eyes kept moving between the two of them. Mariel didn’t look at Meg.

Gavin was slow to follow. Meg, even slower. Once their hands were in the hair, Mariel came forward to kick their guns away.

“So, about that deal…” Risinger said.

Gavin gave his own little smile. “Even now, do you think that we would betray our crew like that. Do you not think that we’re prepared to die to keep that information safe?”

Risinger tilted his head at them.

“Everyone thinks they’re prepared to die. They usually change their minds after a few rounds of torture.” One of the bodyguards (Marquis, Gavin thought) spoke up.

“You say that as if we haven’t been tortured before.” Meg said, her voice was low, anger simmering. “You don’t get to be a part of a notorious crew without a few waterboarding here and there.”

“I can assure you, we’ll do worse than mere waterboarding.” Marquis replied with a slimy smile.

Gavin opened his mouth to reply but was stopped by Risinger. “Now, now. There’s no need for that. I’m sure we can come to an agreement, especially when you hear what I have to say.”

Gavin gritted his teeth, but nodded for Risinger to continue.

Risinger clasped his hands behind his back as he began to pace along the railing. “You don’t think I’m the only one to notice, do you? AH and Fakehause working on hits. Geoff and Gus visit Miller. Those Creature boys come visit your town and leave without a single death threat from Ramsey. The Roosters help Cow Chop when the crew falls on hard times. All such obvious clues.”

“It’s not unusual for crews to form alliances.” Meg puts in. Her eyes have still not left Mariel. Mariel shifts slightly.

“No. But it’s unusual for the Fakes. If I remember right, didn’t you gut a couple of the Lost guys when they began to make moves of coming onto your territory? The Fakes have been notorious for being possessive of their things. The only crew they could stand to share with was with the Roosters and that’s because Ramsey used to be one.”

“You sure do know a lot about a crew on the other side of the States.” Gavin commented.

“Your America’s Most Wanted, why wouldn’t I want to know all about you?” Risinger raised an eyebrow. “The point is, I’m not the only one who noticed your alliance. I’m sure as hell not the first.” That got Gavin frowning, something about that nagging at him. “Which means you need me.”

The two of them scoffed.

“Oh no? You don’t think so?”

“What could you possibly offer us?” Gavin asked.

“Misdirection.” Risinger answered. “There will be war, trust me. If not by me, then by someone else. Everyone wants to be the ones to take down the Fakes and their circle. Give me all the names of everyone involved and I’ll pass that out. But I’ll leave the Fakes, and the Roosters since I know your so connected, alone. Your crew safe.”

“At the expense of everyone else.” Meg finished.

Risinger shrugged. “That’s the price of the business, isn’t? You should know, shouldn’t you.”

“And how do you guarantee that our crew stays safe?” Gavin questions. “You can’t.”

“But _I_ can.” A deep, southern voice called out.

Another man walked into view on the railing. His hair was closely shaved to his head and a dark brown, as was the stubble around his face. Compared to Risinger, he was dressed remarkably down in only a pair of jeans and long-sleeve t-shirt, though Gavin recognizes a brand name when he sees one. He also recognizes the man.

Tyler Coe was apparently alive and well and working with Risinger.

“I believe you know who I am.” Coe asked. They nodded. And wasn’t it perfect, that they got the confirmation Geoff wanted when it mattered the least to them. “Good. Then I’m sure you’ve also heard about what I can do and how dangerous I am. I have no allies, no one I want to benefit other than myself. I can guarantee that no information about your crew leaves this room and that they will stay safe.”

“Of course,” Risinger added. “There’s the small issue concerning you. We can’t allow you to return to your crew. Too dangerous. But give us the information, and we’ll allow you to stay in one of our safe houses.”

“You’re just going to keep us captive for the rest of our lives?” Meg asked.

“No. Just until we’re done with what we plan to do.” Risinger said.

“Cryptic much.” Meg growled.

“It’s nothing you need to concern yourselves with.”

“How can we be sure you won’t hurt our crew if you won’t even tell us what you’re doing?” Gavin asked.

“That’s a chance you’re going to have to take.” Risinger said.

“What will it be?” Coe added.

Meg and Gavin looked at each other. Meg frowned as Gavin narrowed his eyes. He tilted his head towards Risinger and Coe. Meg’s mouth twitch. The sound of a gun cocking broke the silence.

“Enough chatting.” Mariel said, holding up her gun. “Answer now.”

The both turned to look at her. Then up at Coe. Their hardened faces told him everything he needed to know.

Coe sighed. “I was hoping you’d be smarted than that.”

Meg gave a small chuckle. “Crew loyalty is something you will never understand.”

“I’m not sure I want to if it leads to death.” Coe coolly replied. “Mariel. Cole. Tie them up and bring them to the hideout. We’ll have a more…personal chat there.”

Mariel and Cole (as the kid was apparently named) gave an affirmative before carefully moving closer. Gavin made sure to keep his body relaxed and his breathing under control. Coe walked towards Meg while Mariel walked over to Gavin. As soon as she was close, Gavin jumped forward, shoving her gun up as he punched her arm, loosing Mariel’s grip. Twisting the gun away, Gavin swung around to beat the end of the gun against the side of her face.

Gavin stepped back aiming the gun up at Risinger. A quick side look told him that Meg had been as successful in retrieving Cole’s gun.

A warning shot went off near Gavin’s head. He didn’t flinch. Gibson and Marquis had their guns aimed towards them, as did the rest of the guards there. “What exactly did you think that would accomplish?” Risinger asked, raising an eyebrow.

Gavin finally allowed himself a small smirk as he heard what he’s been waiting for all night. The sound of an engine revving. “You know Risinger. You’re not as smart as you pretend to be.”

Then a car crashed through the garage door.

Gavin and Meg were already rolling to the side. In one smooth motion, Gavin rolled to his knee, taking a shot at Gibson. The man let out a shout before he was falling to the ground. Marquis was already moving backwards, shooting at the car which had rolled down its windows and started shooting back. When Marquis saw that Gibson had been hit, he turned and ran.  

Gavin stood up and ran towards Dan. He pulled him, chair and all, over to cover. His hands shook as he untied Dan’s restraints.

“Hey, B.” Dan said, voice a bit slurry.

Gavin let out a little laugh. “Hey, B. Missed me much.”

“You know it.”

Once his hands were free, Gavin helped Dan sit up. “How bad is it?” Gavin asked, looking over his friend.

“It’s not too bad. Head hurts and I’ll have some killer bruisers. But I can shoot.”

“Good. That’s all I need to know.” Gavin looked from behind cover. Gibson’s body was close by, his lifeless eyes staring back at them. And there was his gun. Gavin pointed to it. “Do you think you can reach that and get back here without getting shot?”

Dan looked to where he was pointing. “Yeah.”

Gavin nodded. “Good. Don’t shoot anyone with a red or blue bandanna on them.” Gavin popped up from behind the crate again, before he took aim at the other guards. “On the count of three. One. Two. _Three._ ” Taking in a deep breath, Gavin fired. One guard went down, then another. Out of the corner of his eye, Gavin saw Meg firing too. Dan was scrambling back with the gun, shots hitting close to him. Gavin’s heart was racing, his blood singing in his veins.  

People filed out of the car while others made their way in through the hole in the side. Gavin could see the pink hair of Julie, Emily standing right behind her. Gavin continued shooting, joined in by Dan.

Risinger and Coe were running. Over the sound of shots being fired, Gavin could hear the clanging of their feet against the railing and Risinger shooting orders. Gavin gritted his teeth. He could not allow them to leave here alive. Finding Meg, a few feet away behind her own cover, Gavin tapped Dan’s shoulder carefully made they made their way towards Meg.

Once he reached her, Gavin grabbed her pants leg and pulled her down. Meg’s eyes were fierce, her lips pulled up into a snarl. Gavin couldn’t help himself. He pulled her into a hungry, desperate kiss. Meg kissed back just as hard. Distantly, Gavin thought he could hear Dan snorting. “Of course you two would find time to make out during a fire fight.”

Breaking apart with a gasp, Gavin jerked his head towards where he thought Risinger was disappearing to. “Risinger and Coe are getting away.”

Meg cursed, popping her head up to see where Gavin pointed. “We can’t let that fucker leave.”

“I know.” Gavin popped his head up too. He narrowed his eyes. Bodies were strewn throughout the warehouse. There was a continuous sound of gunshots being fired, the noise pounding into Gavin. He need to think. Pulling Meg down behind cover, he looked at her. Really, _really,_ looked at her. “We can’t let them leave.”

Meg stared back, understanding dawning on her. “I know.”

“Are you two fucking crazy?” Dan shouted, kneeling down to join in on their conversation. “We need to use this distraction to get out of here.”

All Gavin and Meg could do was stare back at him. “We can’t. Risinger knows too much, Dan. He wants to start a _war_. With us. We can’t let him live.”

Dan was pulling at his hair. “Then we get him some other time. Right, now we need to be thinking about surviving-“

Gavin put his hand on Dan’s shoulder. “B.” That got Dan to stop, his fist clenching at the raw emotion Gavin put into that one word. “The Reds and Blues are only going to shoot for a few more minutes. Then they have orders to set the whole building on fire. No matter who’s in here.”

Dan’s mouth was opened in horror at the realization of where Gavin was going with this. “Gavin…no! You can’t.” He turned his wounded gaze to Meg. “Both of you, please. Leave with me.”

“We can’t.”

“You can!”

“We can’t.” Meg insisted. “The information Risinger has cannot be passed on. He needs to die.”

Dan cursed, banging his hand against the ground. “For once, in your damn fucking lives, can’t you put your own safety above the crew.”

“You know that’s not how we’re made, B.” Gavin gave him a small, sad smile. “Dan. Please. Go to the car. Get out of here.”

They held each other’s gazes for a few seconds, though to Gavin it felt like forever. Then Dan grabbed Gavin’s shirt, pulling his close. “You get out of here alive. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. That goes for both of you.” Dan turned his fierce gaze towards Meg.

Gavin’s hand covered Dan’s, his other threading his fingers with Meg’s. “We will.”

“You promise?”

“Yes.” Meg answered. “Now go. The crews are probably itching to get started on that fire.”

Dan didn’t move for a few minutes, just sat there. Taking them in. He gave his own sad smile, as if he knew what was about to happen. “Ok.” Taking a deep breath, Dan started crawling towards the exit.

Gavin and Meg sat, listening to the sound of people dying. Meg looked over at Gavin, raising her gun. “You ready for this.”

Gavin raised his own gun. “You know. I guess it’s a good thing we gave our last good-byes, huh.”

Meg chuckled, though it sounded strained. “I had hoped to never send that text.”

“Me neither. But it’s for the love of the crew, right?”

Meg nodded. “For the love of the crew.” Straightening her shoulders, her face turned determined. “On the count of three?”

Gavin nodded. “One.”

“Two.”

“Three.” They both popped up, already firing. Everything dissolved into guns firing, shouting, and the smell of a fire starting to burn.

~

The ride over to the Docks had been tense. After placing their call to the Blue crew, asking for their and the Reds help in return for anything the Fakes could give them, the sound of Gavin’s foot tapping against the ground had been the only thing to break the silence. Not even their cabbie was saying anything, but that might have been because of the money they gave him so he would stay quiet about having two high profile gang members in his car.

Finally, Meg had turned to Gavin. “You ready for this?”

Gavin’s shoulders had slumped. “Not even remotely.”

Meg went back to staring out the window. “I’m not either.” She took a deep breath. “There’s no way he’s going to give us back Dan.”

Gavin stared blankly ahead. “No, he’s not.”

“We’re most likely going to be shot.”

“Absolutely.”

Meg turned towards Gavin again. “You could be a little more optimistic.”

Gavin finally had to look back at her. “I’m trying to come to terms with this. Risinger won’t allow us to leave with the information we stole. The two chances we have are that Risinger doesn’t know how much we know or who we sent it too. Plus the fact that Geoff has a reputation for burning down anyone who hurts his crew. But Meg, we might die. There’s a pretty good chance of that. And to go through with this I have to be ok with that.”

Meg’s mouth had thinned into a line. “I don’t want to die.”

“I don’t either. But we know that’s a possibility. I can’t go in there and fight for Dan’s life if I can’t go in with the full knowledge that I’m willing to die for him and my crew.”

They had stayed silent for a long time. “I wished I would have said goodbye to Michael and Lindsay.” Meg had said wistfully.

Gavin’s shoulders had slumped. They had continued to stay silent. Finally, Gavin spoke. “We still have time. You want to send a text? I don’t think I can handle a phone call.”

Meg’s lips had twitched upward. Her eyes were dead. “Yeah.”

Scooting as close to each other as they possibly could, Meg raised her phone in the air. They gave their best attempts at a happy smile as Meg took the picture. Looking at their picture, Meg had attached it to her message. “What should I say?” Meg had asked. If her voice had cracked, neither mentioned it.

Gavin had shrugged. For once, he was at a loss for words. “Something…something to let them know we cared.”

Meg’s fingers had been shaking as she started to type. Once finished she had handed it over to Gavin. Gavin read it.

_You know how you always said we were too stupid for our own good? You might have been right. We got arrogant and careless. We’re sorry. I hope you know how much we loved you. From your sweet kisses, to our passionate nights, it was nice to have someone care and be happy for me. I know the same goes for Gavin. Please. Please be careful. Don’t cry too hard for us. I’m going to miss you._

_I’m so sorry. So, so sorry. Gavin is too. We love. One last kiss before we go._

Gavin blinked away his tears. “Y-Yeah. That sounds brilliant.” He had handed it back. Meg had stared at her phone for a long time. Finally, she had hit send. Looking over at Gavin, he could see the tears she let loose.

“I love you.” She whispered.

Gavin had pulled her close to him, allowing her to lay her head against his shoulder. “I love you too.”  

~

“You stupid fuck.” Michael whispered as, once again, he was sent to Gavin’s voicemail. “You stupid fuck, you pick up.” Ending the call, he dialed Gavin’s number again. He looked over at Lindsay, who was also on the phone. “You getting anything?”

“No, she’s not picking up. _Fuck_.” Lindsay spat.

Across the room, Geoff sat at his desk. They had all gathered in his office once Lindsay got Meg’s text. They’ve been trying to get ahold of their wayward crew members ever since. Geoff had poured himself a drink the minute he sat down, but he hadn’t taken a sip. His head was in his hands and his phone was before him on the table.

Ryan paced before him, also trying to contact Meg. Every time he couldn’t get ahold of her, he growled and tried again. Jack was leaning against the wall, staring into space. Whenever he got ahold of Gavin’s voicemail, he would whisper a “Call back” before trying again. 

_“…the person you’re trying to call cannot be reached. Please leave a-“_

“Fuck. Fuck you, you stupid British prick, you pick up this phone right goddamn now, you hear?” Michael yelled, rage boiling in the pit of his stomach. The picture they had sent along with the text was burned into his mind, urging him to keep trying. They had to pick up eventually. They had to.

The others were saying the same things, willing the two to call them back. Michael felt so tense, like he was going to snap at any time. A shrill went off, making the room stop. They all held their breath. It was Geoff’s phone. He fumbled trying to pick it up. “Hello? Hello, Gavin?...Dan? Where’s Gavin? Where’s Meg? Are they alright, please tell me they’re with you.” There was a pause, as Dan answered.

Geoff’s face fell.

Michael’s vision went white. A scream ripped from his throat and he threw his phone across the room, shattering it. Legs shaking, he fell to the ground, pounding his fist into the wood. He didn’t stop, not even when skin started to break. He screamed “No. No. No.” repeatedly, shaking his head. Gavin wasn’t dead. Meg wasn’t gone. They were coming back and he would take Gavin on that date he promised. Cuddle with Meg as they teamed up to destroy Gavin and Lindsay in Mario Party. They would have more fights and kisses and the two of them were going to walk into their apartment and Michael was going to _smack the shit out of them for making him cry._

They weren’t gone. They couldn’t be.

Lindsay’s body was shaking as tears trekked down her face. Every once and a while, a sob would be wretched out of her. Like Michael, she was also in denial. How could someone she talked to the other day be gone? It wasn’t possible.  Ryan and Jack stared at them, numb to their own emotions. All they could do was let the other’s grief wash over them.

Geoff’s mouth was in a thin line, his other hand shaking. A single tear fell down his face as he heard Dan apologize over and over. “ _I’m sorry. I couldn’t get to them in time and then the fire became too much…I’m sorry.”_

After about the fourth time hearing it, Geoff ended the call. He looked at the picture to his right, the one of Gavin and him. The one Gavin made him take after completing their first successful heist. Geoff had lost people before. He lost other crew members, friends and drinking buddies. But never had he lost a son. Putting his head against the desk, he let the tears fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments And Criticisms Welcomed! Come talk to me at my Tumblr-GanglyLimbs


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now the story comes to an end. Thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed this. Thank you so much!

“Risinger’s dead, Tyler.” Mariel’s voice was rough, rubbed raw by smoke. 

Tyler coughed, expelling as much of the smoke as he could. Fucking Fakes. He should have known they would have pulled something like this.  _ But,  _ that small voice in the back of his head whispered, _ that’s what makes them so _ fun. _ They’re some of the best. _

Or.They  _ were _ some of the best. Tyler gave a feral grin at that. Free and Turney were dead, they had to be. There was no way they could have survived the way the fire had ate at the building, raging through the wares that had been stowed there. He barely got out himself. And with the two of them gone, Ramsey’s spies? Well, things were about to get  _ interesting. _

“That’s fine. We don’t need him anymore.” Tyler told her. He looked up at the others were able to fight themselves free. Cole, Marquis, Mariel, a few gun-for-pay people he had hired. All in various stages of disarray and wounded.

Mariel frowned at him. “But. His money-”

“Already taken care of.” Tyler dismissed. He turned his grin to her. “Besides, did you think Risinger was the only one interested in the information we have?”

Mariel began to grin back at him. Tyler could feel his blood pumping, his heart racing. It’s been so long since he’s felt such excitement. He could only hope that the rest of the Fakes proved to be just as entertaining.

~

 

Dan held the phone to his ear for a long time after Geoff hung up on him. The fire of the warehouse crackled behind him and, distantly, he heard the cheers and whoops of the Red and Blue crews celebrating their destruction. Dan cleared his throat of smoke, telling himself that was the reason that his cheeks were wet. 

Finally, he brought his phone down and looked over the side, where a car sat, idling. “I hope you know that that was the hardest phone call I’ve ever had to make.”

Sitting on top of the car, watching the fire eat at the warehouse, was Gavin cuddling with Meg. He gave Dan a tired smile. “I know. Thanks, B.” He hesitated. “How...how’d they take it?”

Dan debated on what to tell them, but Gavin and Meg’s earnest expressions made it hard to lie. Even if he knew it was going to hurt. “I could hear screaming, in the background. Michael’s, I think. I...Geoff was crying too.”

Gavin looked down, biting his lip. Meg closed her eyes. “It’s just until we finish this.” She whispered, holding tight to Gavin’s hands. “We get this done and then we can go home.”

“About that.” Dan began. “How exactly are you going to stop this whole war thing?”

“Risinger was only a pawn.” Gavin said. “Coe might be too. We need to find whoever is at the head of this. That’s who we need dead.”

“You know this could take a while.” Dan pointed out. “This isn’t going to be a few weeks. This could take  _ years _ . Are you prepared to hold this charade for that long?”

Gavin sighed. He looked up at the sky, unable to see the stars past the smoke and lights of the city. In the background, he heard the wail of sirens and shouts of the crews as they scrambled to leave. “We have to be. For the crew.”

“...For the crew.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments And Criticisms Welcomed!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments And Criticisms Welcomed! Come talk to me on my tumblr-GanglyLimbs-and let me know what you think.


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